Castrum Bene 12 - Oddelek za arheologijo - Univerza v Ljubljani

Castrum Bene 

Ljubljana, 28. 9. – 2. 10. 2011 

12 

Book of Abstracts and Fieldtrip Guides 

Zusammenfassungen der Vorträge und 

Exkursionsführer 

Povzetki predavanj in vodnik 

po ekskurzijah

Castrum Bene 12 

Ljubljana, 28. 9. – 2. 10. 2011 

12 th International Castellological Conference 

12. Internationale Konferenz für Burgenforschung 

12. mednarodna kastelološka konferenca 

The Castle as Social Space 

Die Burg als sozialer Raum 

Grad kot družbeni prostor 

Book of Abstracts and Fieldtrip Guides 

Zusammenfassungen der Vorträge und Exkursionsführer 

Povzetki predavanj in vodnik po ekskurzijah 

Ljubljana 2011

Edited by / Urednica 

Proofreading 

Jezikovni pregled 

Technical Editor 

Tehnična urednica 

Published by / Založila 

Issued by / Izdal 

For the publisher / Za založbo 

Design and layout 

Oblikovanje in prelom 

Printed by / Tisk 

Number of copies printed 

Naklada 

12th International Castellological Conference Castrum Bene, Ljubljana, 28. 9. – 2. 10. 

2011: The Castle as Social Space. Book of Abstracts and Fieldtrip Guides 

12. Internationale Konferenz für Burgenforschung Castrum Bene, Ljubljana, 28. 

9. – 2. 10. 2011: Die Burg als sozialer Raum. Zusammenfassungen der Vorträge und 


12. mednarodna kastelološka konferenca Castrum Bene, Ljubljana, 28. 9. – 2. 10. 2011: 

Grad kot družbeni prostor. Povzetki predavanj in vodnik po ekskurzijah 

Katarina Predovnik 


Nives Spudić 

©University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts, 2011 / Univerza v Ljubljani, Filozofska fakulteta, 

2011 

All rights reserved. / Vse pravice pridržane. 

Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete Univerze v Ljubljani 

(Ljubljana University Press, Faculty of Arts) 

Department of Archaeology / Oddelek za arheologijo 

Valentin Bucik, the dean of the Faculty of Arts / Valentin Bucik, dekan Filozofske fakultete 

Nives Spudić 

Birografika Bori d.o.o. 

Ljubljana 2011 

First edition / Prvi natis 

100 

Distributed free of charge. / Publikacija je brezplačna. 

This publication was supported by the Slovenian Research Agency. / Publikacija je izšla s 

podporo Javne agencije za raziskovalno dejavnost Republike Slovenije. 

CIP - Kataložni zapis o publikaciji 

Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica, Ljubljana 

930.85(4)(082) 

728.81(4)(091)(082) 

INTERNATIONAL Castellological Conference (12 ; 2011 ; Ljubljana) 

The castle as social space : book of abstracts and fieldtrip guide = Die Burg als 

sozialer Raum : Zusammenfassungen der Vorträge und Exkursionführer = Grad kot 

družbeni prostor : povzetki predavanj in vodnik po ekskurzijah / Castrum Bene 12 

[tudi] 12th International Castellological Conference, Ljubljana 28. 9.-2. 10. 2011 = 

12. Internationale Konferenz für Burgenforschung = 12. mednarodna kastelološka 

konferenca ; [edited by Katarina Predovnik]. - 1st ed. = 1. natis. - Ljubljana : 

Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete, 2011 

ISBN 978-961-237-455-6 

1. Gl. stv. nasl. 2. Vzp. stv. nasl. 3. Predovnik, Katarina Katja 

257691648

5 

11 

41 

45 

45 

53 

61 

Contents / Inhalt / Kazalo 

Conference Programme 

Programm der Konferenz 

Program konference 

Paper Abstracts 

Zusammenfassungen der Vorträge 

Povzetki predavanj 

Poster Abstracts 

Zusammenfassungen der Poster 

Povzetki plakatov 

Fieldtrip Guides 


Vodnik po ekskurzijah 

Štajerska 

Gorenjska 

Ljubljana

Conference organized by 

Organisation der Konferenz 

Konferenco organizira 

Committee Head 

Vorsitzende 

Predsedujoča 

University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts, Department of Archaeology 

Universität Ljubljana, Philosphische Fakultät, Abteilung für Archäologie 

Univerza v Ljubljani, Filozofska fakulteta, Oddelek za arheologijo 

Scientific organization committee 

Wissenschaftliches Organisationskomitee 

Programski in organizacijski odbor 

Doc. dr. Katarina PREDOVNIK 

Univerza v Ljubljani, Filozofska fakulteta, Oddelek za arheologijo, Ljubljana, SI 

PhDr. Peter BEDNÁR, CSc. 

Archeologický ústav SAV, Nitra, SK 

Dr. György DOMOKOS 

HM Hadtörténeti Intézet és Múzeum, Budapest, H 

Doc. PhDr. Tomás DURDÍK, DrSc. 

Archeologický ústav AV ČR, Praha, CZ 

Dr. Istvan FELD 

Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem, Budapest, H 

Mag. Dr. Martin KRENN 

Bundesdenkmalamt, Abteilung für Bodendenkmäle, Wien, A 

Dr. Adrian Andrei RUSU 

Institutul de arheologie şi istoria artei al Academiei Române, Cluj-Napoca, RO

28. 9. 2011 

16:00–19:00 

20:30 

29. 9. 2011 

9:00 

9:15 

9:45 

10:15 

10:45 

11:15 

11:45 

12:15 

Conference Programme 

Programm der Konferenz 

Program konference 

Wednesday / Mittwoch / Sreda 

Arrival and registration / Anreise und Anmeldung / Prihod in prijava 

Meeting of the Permanent Committee / Sitzung des 

Comité-Permanent / Zasedanje stalnega odbora 

Thursday / Donnerstag / Četrtek 

Morning session / Vormittagssektion / Dopoldanska sekcija 

Social Interpretation of Material Culture / Gesellschaftliche Deutung der 

materiellen Kultur / Družbena interpretacija materialne kulture 

Wellcome / Begrüssung / Dobrodošlica 

Patrick SCHICHT (Krems, Österreich): Die Burg als Spiegel der Gesellschaft 

–Überlegungen an Hand des Salzburger Erzbistums 

Christina SCHMID (Krems, Österreich): Räumliche Analysen 

archäologischer Funde auf Burgen 

Tomáš DURDÍK (Praha, Česko): Aussage der archäologischen Quellen zum 

Alltag der oberen Burgbewohnerschicht 

Coffee break / Kaffeepause / Odmor za kavo 

Artur BOGUSZEWICZ (Wrocław, Polska): Auf der Suche nach der 

Adelskultur. Das Beispiel Burgen in Schlesien 

Arvi HAAK (Tartu, Eesti), Eve RANNAMÄE (Tartu, Eesti): Tracing the 

castellans: Viljandi (Estonia) in the late 13 th century 

Josef HLOŽEK (Plzeň, Česko): Gesellschaftlicher Kontext und Nutzung der 

Vorburgareale der mittelalterlichen Burgen in Böhmen 

Lunch break / Mittagspause / Odmor za kosilo 

Ljubljana, Slovenia, September 28 th – October 2 nd 2011 

5

15:00 

15:30 

16:00 

16:30 

17:00 

17:30 

18:00 

18:30 

20:00 

30. 9. 2011 

9:00 

9:30 

10:00 

10:30 

11:00 

Afternoon session / Nachmittagssektion / Popoldanska sekcija 

Social Stratification and Castle Architecture / Soziale Schichtung und 

Burgenarchitektur / Družbena stratifikacija in grajska arhitektura 

Paul MITCHELL (Wien, Österreich): The Gozzoburg in Krems and the 

Hofburg in Vienna. Their relevance to the study of social space in 

medieval architecture 

Günther DONATH (Wilsdruff, Deutschland): Eine Residenz für zwei 

Haushaltungen. Das hochkomplexe Raum- und Bauprogramm beim 

Neubau der Albrechtsburg in Meißen 1470 

Michael RYKL (Praha, Česko): Die Baugestalt als Spiegel des Wandels 

des Sozialstatus. Fallbeispiel der Feste Kestřany in Südböhmen in der 

neueren Forschung 

Radu LUPESCU (Cluj-Napoca, România): Social stratification and castle 

architecture in 15 th -century Transylvania 


Castle Studies and their Social Context / Burgenforschung und ihr 

Sozialkontext / Kastelologija in njen družbeni kontekst 

Vytautas VOLUNGEVIČIUS (Vilnius, Lietuva): The Grand Duchy of Lithuania 

and the case of the castle: context, problems, perspectives 

Igor SAPAČ (Ljubljana, Slovenija): Blicke auf Burgen und Schlösser in 

Slowenien 

Adrian Andrei RUSU (Cluj-Napoca, România): A critique of the “peasant 

fortresses” from Romania 

Reception / Empfang / Sprejem 

Friday / Freitag / Petek 


Living in Castles / Leben auf Burgen / Življenje na gradovih 

Maxim MORDOVIN (Budapest, Hungary): Civitas or refugium? Life in 10 th – 

11 th -century castles in Hungary 

Daniela DVOŘÁKOVÁ (Bratislava, Slovensko): Die Frau und ihr Leben auf 

der mittelalterlichen Burg 

Regina JANÍKOVÁ (Plzeň, Česko): Touch of her hand: the reflection of 

women in archaeological sources from castle areas 


Catriona COOPER (Southampton, UK), Gemma MINIHAN (Southampton, 

UK): Bodiam, Scotney and Ightham: lived experience in the later Middle 

Ages 

6 Castrum Bene 12

11:30 

13:00–22:30 

1. 10. 2011 

9:00 

9:30 

10:00 

10:30 

11:00 

11:30 



14:30 

Thomas KÜHTREIBER (Krems, Österreich): Gefahrenstelle Burg. Unfälle 

auf Burgen als Quellen zur Identifikation von unterschiedlichen sozialen 

Gruppen auf Adelssitzen des Mittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit 

Excursion to the region of Štajerska / Exkursion nach Untersteiermark / 

Ekskurzija na Štajersko 

Saturday / Samstag / Sobota 


Communication and Perception: The Life and Afterlife of Castles and 

Fortresses / Kommunikation und Wahrnehmung: das Leben und Nach- 

Leben der Burgen und Festungen / Komunikacija in percepcija: življenje 

in »življenje po življenju« gradov in trdnjav 

Ján BELJAK (Nitra, Slovensko), Pavol MALINIAK (Banská Bystrica, 

Slovensko), Noémi PAŽINOVÁ (Nitra, Slovensko), Michal ŠIMKOVIC (Zvolen, 

Slovensko): Die Burg Pustý hrad bei Zvolen – eine Zeugin mittelalterlichen 

Lebens. Differenzierung des Raumes der königlichen Burg auf der 

Grundlage der archäologischen, architektonischen und historischen 

Forschung 

Wendy LANDEWÉ (Enschede, Nederland): Castles and gender in late 

medieval Holland 

Alessandro BRODINI (Roma, Italia): The fortress as a social space: the 

16 th –17 th -century Venetian Terraferma as a case in point 

György DOMOKOS (Budapest, Hungary): Das Zeughaus von Kaschau und 

seine Verbindungen 


Zsuzsanna KOPECZNY (Timişoara, România): The castle of Timişoara in 

the early modern period, as seen by its contemporaries 

Ileana BURNICHIOIU (Alba Iulia, România), Oana TODA (Cluj-Napoca, 

România): Castle after castle in Transylvania: the social and cultural 

changes (16 th –20 th centuries) 

Martin KRENN (Wien, Österreich): Die Kreuzenstein – späthistoristischer 

Burgenbau 

Lunch break / Mittagspause / Odmor za kosilo 

Afternoon session / Nachmittagssektion / Popoldanska sekcija 

Castles as Heritage / Burgen als Erbe / Gradovi kot dediščina 

Wojciech BRILLOWSKI (Toruń, Polska), Arkadiusz KOPERKIEWICZ (Gdańsk, 

Polska): The Bäslack castle – a stronghold, a church, a legend 


7

15:00 

15:30 

16:00 

16:30 

17:00 

17:30 

18:00 

20:00 

2. 10. 2011 

9:00 

9:30 

10:00 

10:30 

Barbara POSPIESZNA (Malbork, Polska), Kazimierz POSPIESZNY (Toruń, 

Polska): Kloster-Residenzen der „Maria-Diener“ oder Wehrbauten der 

Kreuzritter in Preußen – zwei Bilder der Deutschordensburgen ehemals 

und heute 

Jože HUDALES (Ljubljana, Slovenija): Castles in Slovene folk tradition: 

some examples from the Šaleška Dolina Valley 

Rajko MURŠIČ (Ljubljana, Slovenija): Kapralov’s Castle and Upper Cmurek 

(Mureck) Castle as venues of alternative punk rock scene in Trate, 

Slovenske gorice 


Vesna MERC (Ptuj, Slovenija): Back to the future? Heritage-making and 

castles 

Harald ROSMANITZ (Partenstein, Deutschland): The castle project in the 

Spessart – scientists and volunteers explore a cultural landscape 

Silvija PISK (Zagreb, Hrvatska): Croatian medieval fortifications between 

academic and pop-scientific approach: selected examples 

Poster session / Poster-Sektion / Posterska sekcija 

František GABRIEL (Česká Lípa, Česko), Lucie KURSOVÁ (Litoměřice, 

Česko): Die Pflichten der Untertanen und ihre Möglichkeiten in der Burg 

Helfenburk im 14. Jahrhundert 

Arkadiusz KOPERKIEWICZ (Gdańsk, Polska): Kleine Schlösser in 

kleinen Gesellschaften. Die archäologischen Ausgrabungen in dem 

Ritterordensschloss Hochenstein 

Arkadiusz PRZYBYŁOK (Piekary Śląskie, Polska): Raum der 

oberschlesischen Burgen. Dienst, Tiere, Versorgung 

Kari UOTILA (Kaarina, Suomi): Using a mobile-guide system in medieval 

castles and fortifications 

Sunday / Sonntag / Nedelja 


Castle Biographies / Burgenbiographien / Biografije gradov 

Zsolt CSOK (Zalău, România): Castrum Carazna and its domain: a hidden 

castle and clear social ambient (11 th –13 th centuries) 

Mira STRMČNIK GULIČ (Maribor, Slovenija), Mateja RAVNIK (Ljubljana, 

Slovenija): Marchpurch. The Upper Castle of Maribor 

Tatjana TKALČEC (Zagreb, Hrvatska): The medieval castle of ''Vrbouch'' in 

Klenovec Humski (Northwestern Croatia) 



11:00 

11:30 


13:30 –19:30 

14:30 –17:00 

Andrej JANEŠ (Zagreb, Hrvatska): A view on life in a feudal castle: 

finds analysis from the castle of Cesargrad (2008 and 2010 excavation 

campaigns) 

Tajana PLEŠE (Zagreb, Hrvatska): Krčingrad and Garić-grad: two castles 

and their role in the late medieval cultural and historical landscape 

Final discussion / Schlussdiskussion / Sklepna diskusija 

Excursion to the region of Gorenjska / Exkursion nach Oberkrain / 

Ekskurzija na Gorenjsko 

or / oder / ali 

A tour around Ljubljana / Stadtrundgang in Ljubljana / Ogled Ljubljane 


9

Patrick Schicht 

Christina Schmid 

Paper Abstracts 

Zusammenfassungen der Vorträge 

Povzetki predavanj 

Die Burg als Spiegel der Gesellschaft – 

Überlegungen an Hand des Salzburger 

Erzbistums 

Im Rahmen einer umfangreichen Untersuchung zum hochmittelalterlichen 

Burgenbau der Erzbischöfe von Salzburg (12 Anlagen) gelangen 

zahlreiche Beobachtungen zur sozialen Staffelung vom Erzbischof über 

seine Burggrafen zu den Dienstmannen und gewöhnlichen Besuchern. So 

fanden sich mehrfach Privatkapellen im Kernbereich und größere Kapellen 

in der Unterburg, direkte Zugänge vom Kernbereich auf die Emporen 

sowie eine Staffelung der Burgbereiche von außen nach innen. Analog 

finden sich mehrere und unterschiedliche Küchen, Gesindestuben versus 

Prunkstuben und unterschiedliche Verteidigungslinien und private Rückzugsorte 

für die höchsten Kreise. Die soziale Staffelung zeigt im betrachteten 

Zeitraum des 11. bis 14. Jahrhunderts einige Entwicklungen, die sich 

auf das jeweilige Hofzeremoniell aber auch auf moderne Strömungen und 

Anforderungen zurückführen lassen. 

Der Vortrag würde diese Hinweise auf gesellschaftliche Staffelungen beleuchten 

und zur allgemeinen Diskussion stellen. 

Räumliche Analysen archäologischer Funde auf Burgen 

Wenn aufgrund des schlechten Erhaltungszustandes architektonisch abgegrenzter 

Räume keine Untersuchungen zu Raumfunktionen wie etwa 

„access analysis“ mehr möglich sind, bleibt die räumliche Verteilung der 

archäologisch relevanten Hinterlassenschaften die einzige Quelle für eine 

Lokalisierung von Aktivitäten. Analysen und Interpretationen von „intrasite 

spatial data“ wurden bisher in erster Linie in Hinblick auf urgeschichtliche 

Fundstellen durchgeführt – solches „patterning“, also die Verteilung 

von und die Beziehungen zwischen Artefakten und Befunden im Boden, 

liefert jedoch auch wichtige Informationen für mittelalterarchäologische 

Befunde. 

Aktivitätszonen als räumlich eingrenzbare Orte, an denen eine bestimmte 

Tätigkeit von einer oder mehreren Personen durchgeführt wird, können 

anhand einer Analyse der räumlichen Beziehung von Objekten definiert 

werden. Dabei bleiben Einzelereignisse immer schwer interpretierbar, 

zielführender ist es, wiederkehrende Aktivitätsmuster zu identifizieren. 

Räumliche Verteilungsmuster stellen dabei keine passive und zufällige 

Reflexion sozialer Praxis dar, räumliche Strukturen sind sowohl Mittel als 


11

auch Resultat menschlicher Aktivität. Raum darf also auch nicht nur als 

eine Beziehung zwischen Objekten gesehen, und sozialer Raum nicht auf 

seine physische Beschreibung reduziert werden. 

Wichtig für Untersuchungen räumlicher Verteilungsmuster ist die Frage 

nach der räumlichen Trennung von Aktivitäten. Auf Burgen, wo viele 

Gebäude aus Stein errichtet wurden, ist der Aufwand für Umbauten sehr 

groß, Veränderungen sind daher schwierig und arbeitsaufwändig – bei 

flüchtiger Architektur aus Lehm oder Holz ist eine Einflussnahme auf die 

architektonische Gestaltung leichter möglich. Ein Gebäude auf einer Burg 

muss daher in seiner letzten baulichen Ausprägung nicht mehr zwingend 

die Bedürfnisse der BewohnerInnen widerspiegeln, der Lebensvollzug 

muss nicht mit der baulich intendierten Funktion übereinstimmen. Die 

stratigraphisch jüngsten Nutzungsschichten geben allerdings Hinweise 

auf die auf einer Burg tatsächlich verübten Tätigkeiten. 

Räumlich ungebundene Tätigkeiten können an Zonen gebunden sein, der 

konkrete Ort jedoch kann variieren. Räumlich gebundene Tätigkeiten sind 

an eine bestimmte Installation gebunden. Solche Aktivitäten mit festgelegtem 

Aktivitätsort haben eine größere archäologische Sichtbarkeit – zum 

einen aufgrund der festen Installation, deren Überlieferungswahrscheinlichkeit 

hoch ist, und zum anderen, da wiederholt immer wieder dieselbe 

Art von Abfall abgelagert wird. Bei Aktivitäten ohne festgelegten Ort ist 

eine funktionelle Interpretation zumeist schwierig bis unmöglich. Darüber 

hinaus muss in Betracht gezogen werden, dass es Tätigkeiten gibt, deren 

Abläufe Räume miteinander verknüpfen und sich daher nicht in Form einzelräumlicher 

Binnenfunktionen fassen lassen. 

Eine Lokalisierung von Aktivitätszonen anhand archäologisch fassbarer 

Belege birgt jedoch auch positivistisches Fehlerpotential: Aktivitäten sind 

archäologisch nur lokalisierbar, sofern sie mit Materialaufwand und -Verlust 

verbunden sind. Die Menge an archäologisch fassbaren Überresten, 

die sich auf einer Oberfläche (Fußboden, Begehungshorizont etc.) beobachten 

lässt, ist abhängig davon, wie viel Material im Rahmen einer Aktivität 

benutzt oder erzeugt, und in welcher Form diese Gegenstände auf der 

Oberfläche belassen oder entsorgt wurden. Wenig materialintensive bzw. 

wenig abfallerzeugende Tätigkeiten produzieren einen geringeren bis keinen 

Niederschlag im archäologischen Material und können daher im Zuge 

solcher Analysen nicht erfasst werden. 

Entscheidend für eine Analyse räumlicher Verteilungsmuster sind die Erhaltungsbedingungen: 

Im archäologischen Befund zeigen sich oft überlagernde 

Verteilungsmuster. Bei bestimmten Entstehungsformen archäologischer 

Kontexte darf jedoch davon ausgegangen werden, dass die an 

diesem Ort durchgeführten Handlungen – etwa durch ein Erdbeben oder 

ein Schadensfeuer – plötzlich beendet wurden. Das Ende der menschlichen 

Aktivität an dem betreffenden Platz wurde also durch ein unvermittelt 

auftretendes Ereignis herbeigeführt. Dadurch stand den handelnden 

Menschen wenig Zeit zur Verfügung, um die Befundbildung entscheidend 

zu beeinflussen. Wenn der in diesem Zusammenhang entstandene Niederschlag 

nach seiner Ablagerung keinen entscheidenden räumlichen Veränderungen 

– davon vorrangig (mit Ausnahme der Ausgrabung) keiner Manipulation 

mehr durch den Menschen – unterlag, stellt er eine gute Basis 

für eine erfolgreiche Analyse räumlicher Verteilungsmuster dar. Es besteht 

aufgrund der besonderen Depositionsumstände Grund zur Annahme, dass 

eine „tatsächliche Artefaktpopulation“ in einen archäologischen Kontext 

12 Castrum Bene 12

Tomáš Durdík 

Artur Boguszewicz 

gelangt ist und über die Fundlage der Objekte sowie ihre Vergesellschaftung 

mit anderen Objekten auf ihre Funktion bzw. Verwendung geschlossen 

werden kann. Befunde dieser Kategorie dienen als Quellen der vorgestellten 

Untersuchung. 

Im Rahmen dieses Vortrags soll der Frage nachgegangen werden, in wie 

weit sich Aktivitäten der Burgbewohnerinnen und Burgbewohner im archäologischen 

Befund niederschlagen und wie in weiterer Folge dieser 

Niederschlag durch die Archäologie dokumentiert und interpretiert werden 

kann. In dem Bewusstsein, dass wohl immer ein großer Spalt zwischen 

komplexen historischen Handlungen und den archäologisch fassbaren Resten 

dieses Verhaltens klafft, wird versucht, verschiedene Gruppen von BurgbewohnerInnen 

oder anderer Anwesender anhand der durch sie durchgeführten 

Aktivitäten im archäologischen Befund sichtbar zu machen. 

Aussage der archäologischen Quellen zum 

Alltag der oberen Burgbewohnerschicht 

Der Beitrag beschäftigt sich in Form der Bemerkungen mit dem Alltag der 

oberen Burgbewohnerschicht. Dieses Thema braucht sicher eine breite interdisziplinäre 

Fassung. Im Rahmen dieses Beitrags werden aus dem breiten, vielseitigen 

und vielschichtigen Spektrum der aussagefähigen Quellen zum Thema 

die Möglichkeiten der archäologischen Quellen betrachtet. Diskutiert werden 

die Belege des Alltags, z. B. Belege aus dem Bereich der Ritterkultur und ihren 

Satzungen, der Tafelsitten, des Verständnisses von Zeit, der Kultur, des Geldumlaufs, 

der Jagd, des Freizeitverbleibs usw. Es gibt keine Zweifel darüber, 

dass das Bild des Alltags der höchsten sozialen Schichten der Burgbewohner 

im archäologischen Material sehr modifiziert ist und es (wie auch beim gesamten 

Burgalltag) unbestreitbar einer weit größeren interdisziplinären Bandbreite 

bedarf, um es zu begreifen. Trotzdem ist das Studium und Auswertung der archäologischen 

Quellen notwendig und bildet einen wichtigen Bestandteil des 

Gesamtbildes. 

Auf der Suche nach der Adelskultur. 

Das Beispiel Burgen in Schlesien 

Augenscheinlich ist die Burg ein Ort, der das Gepräge der Kultur von mittelalterlichen 

Adeligen möglichst triftig widerspiegelt. Allerdings werden 

in der letzten Zeit immer mehr Faktoren sichtbar, die diese Meinung in 

Frage stellen. Die formale Differenzierung dieser Objekte, Umwandlungen, 

denen sie in der Geschichte unterlagen, Übereignungen, einschließlich der 

Übernahme durch kirchliche Institutionen oder Bürgerschaft, machen die 

Interpretation des Kulturphänomens, welches die Burg war, viel komplizierter. 

Damit stehen Dilemmas in Verbindung, welche mit der Deutung 

der auf den Burgen geborgenen Funde zusammenhängen. Nur ausnahmsweise 

gibt es Artefakte, die mit der ritterlich-höfischen Kultur zu verbinden 

wären. Die meisten sind hingegen Geräte und Gegenstände, derer 


13

Arvi Haak 

Eve Rannamäe 

Benutzung unterschiedlichen „nichtadeligen“ Sozialgruppen zugewiesen 

werden kann, die auf der Burg mannigfaltige Dienste und Wirtschaftstätigkeiten 

leisteten. Die Zweifel stellen sich auch bei einem Versuch auf, unter 

den Funden die so genannte adelige Komponente auszusondern, wenn 

ähnliche archäologische Fundkomplexe auch in den mittelalterlichen Städten 

entdeckt werden. 

Die Ordnung von diesen Fragen sowie Bestimmung von Anzeichen der 

Adelskultur kann eine Analyse vom breiteren Zusammenhang der Aktivitäten 

auf der Burg mit Berücksichtigung der Verhältnisse zwischen den 

verschiedenen Gruppen von Burgbewohnern bringen. In dieser Hinsicht 

kann die Anwendung der Elemente von der Theorie des Kultursoziologen 

Pierre Bourdieu behilflich sein. Laut der letzteren sollte man eine Analyse 

von Artefakten auf die Bestimmung vom „Habitus“ des Burgherrn konzentrieren, 

also auf die von ihm angeeigneten Muster von Denken, Verhalten 

und Geschmäckern. Somit dürfen sich die Untersuchungen dieser Frage auf 

eine einfache Bestimmung von Funktionen einzelner Gebäude, Einrichtungen 

und Geräte sowie deren Zuweisung den Vertretern einer gegebenen 

Sozialgruppe nicht beschränken. Notwendig ist es, jene Elemente im Kontext 

der Struktur, die von Bourdieu soziales Feld genannt wird, also der 

Burgbewohner anzubringen, für die die wichtigste Person, der „Akteur“, 

der Burgbesitzer war. Die Anwendung dieser Forschungsinstrumente lässt 

das soziale, mit der Adelskultur gleichzusetzende Kapital des Besitzers bestimmen. 

Jene Frage wird in Anlehnung an die Fundmaterialien aus den schlesischen 

Burgen der Zeit zwischen dem 13. und 15. Jh. betrachtet werden, sie wird 

aber auch auf die in Mittel- und Osteuropa sichtbaren Kulturerscheinungen 

bezogen werden. Unter den angesprochenen Angelegenheiten finden 

sich auch die Sachen der Lokalisierung einer Burg, ihrer Form, Ausstattung 

und Ausschmückung. In Bezug auf die Problematik des Alltagslebens 

auf der Burg werden die mit dem Lebensstandard der Burgbewohner, dem 

Umfang ihrer Wirtschaftsaktivitäten und Unterhaltung zusammenhängenden 

Fragen angeschnitten. Besondere Beachtung sollte auch den gefundenen 

Waffen und Spuren von Kriegshandlungen auf den Burgen geschenkt 

werden. In vielen Fällen können die Vergleichsuntersuchungen der in den 

mittelalterlichen Dörfern und Städten geborgenen archäologischen Fundmaterialien 

eine Basis für die gezogenen Schlüsse bilden. 

Tracing the Castellans: Viljandi (Estonia) 

in the Late 13 th Century 

In Estonia, the construction of stone castles started after the conquest of 

the territory during the early 13 th century. In Viljandi, written sources allow 

the assumption that a fortification was constructed in stone from 1224 

on, yet the shape of the first castle is unknown. The earliest archaeological 

contexts determined so far originate from the last third of the century. 

The current presentation concentrates on two contexts of the latter date: 

one from the town area, and another from the castle. Both of these should 

have formed before the construction of the castle of a convent house type 

was begun. The finds and data unearthed are treated as the main source 


Josef Hložek 

material, with special attention on the information obtained from animal 

bones. The analysis of archaeological bone material informs us of the utilization, 

consumption, and treatment of different animals. The latter reflects 

cultural features and distinctions in the medieval society. In the case 

of Viljandi, we concentrate on the variances between the castle and town 

contexts, and the possible social connotations of the findings. Can we also 

speak of remarkable dissimilarities within the finds from the castle area? 

Does the situation alter once the Convent House is built (presumably early 

14 th century)? 

Regarding the significance of archaeological finds for the study of social relations, 

it should be stressed that life in the castle included several actors, 

from members of the Livonian branch of the Teutonic Order down to servants 

and possibly travelling craftsmen. Thus, there is no straightforward 

way from the finds to the social relations of the inhabitants. The amount of 

written data that could be used in the case of Viljandi is rather scarce. Still, 

archaeological and zooarchaeological finds need to be included in the discussion 

and a comparative analysis will hopefully reflect topics of interest 

and problems for further study. 

Gesellschaftlicher Kontext und Nutzung 

der Vorburgareale der mittelalterlichen 

Burgen in Böhmen 

Hochmittelalterliche Burgen zählen zu den bedeutendsten Quellen der 

Archäologie und Geschichtswissenschaft und sind wichtige Brennpunkte 

nicht nur der gegenwärtigen, sondern auch der vergangenen Kulturlandschaft. 

Die Burgareale stellen eine ungemein wertvolle und bisher bei 

weitem nicht ausgeschöpfte Quelle dar, die viel über die Wirklichkeit und 

den Alltag verschiedener Schichten der vielschichtigen mittelalterlichen 

Gesellschaft aussagt. Die einzelnen Burgteile verfügen jedoch über ein unterschiedliches 

Maß an Aussagekraft in Hinblick auf verschiedene Lebens- 

und Funktionsaspekte der mittelalterlichen Burg, und nicht zuletzt auch 

in Hinblick auf deren gesellschaftlichen Kontext. In den einzelnen europäischen 

Regionen wurden die Burganlagen durch verschiedene, in vielerlei 

Hinsicht diametral entgegen gesetzte Entwicklungstendenzen geformt. 

Diese wurden nicht nur durch das Umfeld und die Person des Bauherren 

oder dessen gesellschaftliche Position beeinflusst, sondern auch durch 

weitere regionale politische, wirtschaftliche, betriebliche und gesellschaftliche 

Zusammenhänge. Trotz dieser bedeutenden regionalen Unterschiede 

ist es möglich, eine gewisse Ähnlichkeit bei einigen Teilen der Burganlagen 

festzustellen, und dies sowohl auf der Ebene ihrer formalen Struktur als 

auch auf der funktionalen und gesellschaftlichen Ebene. Die Vorburgen der 

Adelsburgen stellen im europäischen Kontext den wandlungsfähigsten Teil 

der Burganlage dar. In diesem Bereich lässt sich eine Konzentration eines 

weiten Spektrums besonders von wirtschaftlichen und betrieblichen, aber 

auch von militärischen und in mancherlei Hinsicht auch demonstrativen 

Funktionen des Burgorganismus nachvollziehen. Vor allem im Falle von 

Adelsburgen stellte die Vorburg unter bestimmten Bedingungen einen nur 

schwer ersetzbaren Wirtschafts- und Betriebsbereich dar, der sehr oft auch 

als Bindeglied zur Kommunikation zwischen der mittelalterlichen Burg 


15

Paul Mitchell 

und ihrem Umland funktionierte. Die Vorburg war jedoch in vielen Fällen 

ein nicht zu unterschätzendes Kommunikationsbindeglied nicht nur auf 

wirtschaftlich-betrieblicher, sondern auch auf symbolischer Ebene. Dies 

erfolgte sowohl durch Sakralbauten mit Pfarreifunktion im Bereich der 

Vorburg als auch durch verschiedene Elemente demonstrativer Architektur, 

bzw. durch deren demonstratives Potential. Es ist möglich, auf Grundlage 

der bisherigen Forschungsergebnisse zu Vorburgarealen die Annahme 

zu treffen, dass die Vorburg in vielerlei Hinsicht eine Anpassungsform des 

Burgorganismus an spezifische regionale, gesellschaftliche und wirtschaftliche 

Bedingungen darstellte. In einigen Fällen wurde die Vorburg, unter 

Berücksichtigung ihrer Ausstattung, zu einem Kommunikationsmittel mit 

bestimmten Gruppen im Umland. Die Vorburg der mittelalterlichen Burgen 

verfügt daher über ungewöhnlich hochwertige Informationen über den 

Alltag auf der mittelalterlichen Burg und deren gesellschaftlichen Kontext, 

in Abhängigkeit von dem Qualitätsniveau des entsprechenden Burgobjekts, 

von dessen funktioneller Ausrichtung und nicht zuletzt von der gesellschaftlichen 

Position des Eigentümers. Mit archäologischen Methoden 

lassen sich deshalb sehr verschiedene soziale Kontexte einzelner Burganlagen 

nachvollziehen, und dies sowohl auf der Grundlage des Spektrums 

gefundener Artefakte und der Art und Weise der Entstehung der überlagernden 

Schichten an der Lokalität, als auch durch Analyse der Architektur 

und weiterer erhaltener Ausstattung in diesem Bereich. 

The Gozzoburg in Krems and the Hofburg in Vienna. 

Their Relevance to the Study of Social Space in Medieval 

Architecture 

Castles and great houses are shaped by and reflect social structure and 

ideas, but they also influence behaviour in their turn. Research at two 

important castle-type sites in eastern Austria, the Gozzoburg in Krems 

(2005–2007) and the Hofburg in Vienna (2006–ongoing), has shed light 

on the relationship between social behaviour and architecture. 

The Gozzoburg is the extensive palace of the important burgher Gozzo, 

which was constructed 1250–1280 and taken over by the Hapsburgs after 

1320. It consists of a series of buildings and courtyards, including several 

hall-type rooms and two chapels, and includes several sequences of 

frescoes. Architecture and decoration were used systematically in the Gozzoburg 

to communicate ideas and expected social behaviour. The extraordinarily 

well-preserved character of the complex allows the reconstruction 

both of “ceremonial access routes” (Eadie) and of utilitarian, “invisible” 

routes through the complex. A great deal can also be said about the settings 

in which different groups of men and women experienced the palace. 

The Hofburg was a key centre of the Austrian dukes, founded as a quadrangular 

castle in the second quarter of the 13 th century. By the 15 th century it 

had seen several vertical and horizontal additions and was surrounded by 

gardens, churches and outbuildings. Research has uncovered substantial 

medieval remains and allowed a reconstruction of the castle in its main 

phases. Important sources, for example the “partition contract” of 1458 

and the poem of the siege of 1462, can now be understood in their archi- 


Günter Donath 

Michael Rykl 

tectural context, making it possible to discuss the castle’s spaces as understood 

by the various people who worked and lived there or visited it. 

The talk will be based on a combination of new data and of data presented 

for the first time in English. The author was/is an active member of both 

research teams. 

Eine Residenz für zwei Haushaltungen. Das 

hochkomplexe Raum- und Bauprogramm beim Neubau 

der Albrechtsburg in Meißen 1470 

1470 beauftragten die beiden Brüder Kurfürst Ernst und Herzog Albrecht 

den Baumeister Arnold von Westfalen mit dem Neubau eines Residenzschlosses 

in Meißen. Dazu musste die alte, 929 unter König Heinrich gegründete 

Markgrafenburg, umgebaut werden. Mit der Wahl des Ortes wollten 

die beiden Wettiner an die jahrhundertelange Tradition des Wirkens 

ihrer Familie anknüpfen. Bei Planung und Bau des neuen Schlosses vollzog 

sich ein Paradigmenwechsel: während in den talseitigen Untergeschossen 

noch die Wehrfunktionen dominierten, entstanden über einem Erdgeschoß 

mit Verwaltungsräumen in den darüber liegenden Etagen vor allem Repräsentations- 

und Wohnräume für die Haushaltungen der beiden Brüder, 

die ihre gemeinsame Landesregierung auch durch gemeinsames Wohnen 

dokumentieren wollten. Diese Funktionen alle unter einem Dach unterzubringen 

bedurfte es hochkomplexer Überlegungen für die Anordnung der 

verschiedenen Wohn- und Funktionsräume sowie der dazu gehörenden 

Laufgänge sowohl für die Herrschaft als auch deren Diener. Hochmoderne 

Abortsysteme runden das Bild der neuen Anlage als Wohnschlosses ab. Obwohl 

das Schloss in Meißen im Spätmittelalter niemals fertiggestellt wurde 

gilt es doch als „Geburtsort“ für den modernen Schlossbau. 1710 war er 

Sitz und Produktionsstätte der ersten europäischen Porzellanmanufaktur. 

Ganz symbolhaft wurde nach der deutschen Wiedervereinigung 1990 in 

der Meißner Albrechtsburg der Freistaat Sachsen wieder gegründet. 

Der Verfasser hat nicht nur nahezu ein Jahrzehnt lang die 2010 abgeschlossenen 

baulichen Instandsetzungsarbeiten an der Albrechtsburg als Architekt 

geleitet, sondern auch mit seinem Büro die Bauforschung betrieben. 

Die Baugestalt als Spiegel des Wandels des Sozialstatus. 

Fallbeispiel der Feste Kestřany in Südböhmen in der 

neueren Forschung 

Die Feste Kestřany ist ein gutes Beispiel einer komplizierten Bauentwicklung. 

Die einzelnen Bauphasen spiegeln den wechselnden Status des Sitzes. 

Es sind mindestens vier Bauphasen deutlich erkennbar: erste Hälfte des 14. 

Jhdts., Ende des 14. bis erste Hälfte des 15. Jhdts., Anfang 16. Jhdts. (1517 

dendrodatiert) und zweite Hälfte des 16. Jhdts. Anhand der Bauforschungsergebnisse 

und darauffolgenden Rekonstruktion der Raumanordnung lässt 

sich die Ausdehnung der Wohn-, Repräsentations- und Verwaltungsgebiete 


17

Radu Lupescu 

Vytautas Volungevičius 

(der Burggraf) mit gewisser Wahrscheinlichkeit bestimmen und die fehlenden 

Bestandteile voraussetzen. Interessant ist auch der Bezug der Feste 

Kestřany zu zwei anderen naheliegenden Festen, welche einmal selbständig 

waren, später aber zur selben Herrschaft gehörten. 

Social Stratification and Castle Architecture 

in 15 th -Century Transylvania 

The main purpose of the presentation is to identify the relationship between 

the different classes of the Transylvanian nobility and the castle 

types owned by them. The structure and status of the nobility in Transylvania 

were basically the same as in the Hungarian Kingdom in general, 

although there were some minor specific features. The aristocracy, placed 

on the top of the hierarchy, was quite small in number. More important was 

the middle class of the nobility, the so-called county nobles. Both of these 

classes owned different types of residences. The question is whether the 

castles built by these families have some particular features according to 

the owners’ status or not? 

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Case of the Castle: 

Context, Problems, Perspectives 

One of the main problems of the historiography of Lithuania is the issue 

of social and spatial structures. Soviet historiography was focused only 

on ideological relations between the nobility and the peasants. This point 

of view was based on a rather primitive Marxist-Leninist methodological 

background. Nowadays, that is, in the last twenty years, Lithuanian historiography 

is renewing and looking for new theoretical approaches and 

themes which had been forgotten (and had to be forgotten) for about fifty 

years. In 1982, the main ideologist of Lithuanian Soviet historiography 

thus expressed the whole situation of Lithuanian historiography, especially 

the problem of the medieval castle: “...it is not allowed to be interested in 

castles because it is a ‘United Stream’.” 1 

Almost all articles which have been written about the medieval castles of 

the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL) are factographic and do not analyze the 

issue of social space which was constituted by the castle and its structure: 

micro and macro spaces inside (internal) and outside (external) the castle 

area. On the other hand, it is not clear what has belonged (in the sense of 

jurisdiction, territory, administration, and household) to a particular castle: 

which territories, villages, manors. All these problems are related with the 

local social contingent (i.e. the different categories of nobility and peasants 

and their duties). 

The other set of problems is posed by the heterogeneity of GDL. It involves 

both social and territorial questions. As far as we know, the situation and 

position of a castle was determined by the local society. GDL can be devi- 


Igor Sapač 

ded in several territories: Lituania propria – the core of the state, Samogitia 

– the west and most archaic part of the state, Ruthenian lands – Kiev, 

Podolia, Volhynia, Smolensk, Polotsk, Vitebsk, Podlachia. All these regions 

had a local and specific structure, the so-called Verfassung. Because of that 

all these regions and especially their castles have to be analyzed separately 

but at the same time in the context of the “classic” feudalism, its transformations 

and local variations. 

Furthermore, the phenomenon castle concerns also the question of territorialisation. 

What exactly was the policy of the Grand Duke of Lithuania 

and what role did castles play within it? How can we compare GDL and 

its castle policies for example with the policies of the Polish king Casimir 

III the Great or of the Hungarian king Stephen I? On the other hand, the 

question about the genesis of “the castle” in GDL is still open. We know 

that in Western Europe the feudal revolution was one of the main factors 

which caused the rise of local power centres as fortresses. Therefore, this 

phenomenon is not strictly associated with GDL. This could be a promising 

way to discuss the comparative history of castles in the whole of Europe or 

in a few selected regions of the continent. 

We can approach the study of castles in GDL from various perspectives and 

at different levels: 

- a particular castle and its inner territory, 

- the castle with its constituted external territory and structure, 

- regional castle structures (defensive systems, complexes of private 

castles etc.), 

- specific features of castles in the various provinces of the state, 

- the distribution of castles in the entire territory of the state. 

1 In Soviet times, the term “United Stream” denoted those historians, or scholars in general, 

who were blamed of expressing a bourgeois point of view or discussing problems which 

weren’t relevant etc. 

Blicke auf Burgen und Schlösser in Slowenien 

Burgen und Schlösser in Slowenien gelten heute, wie auch in den meisten 

europäischen Ländern, als wichtige Symbole der nationalen und regionalen 

Identität. Viele wurden vom Staat als Denkmale deklariert und mit 

Unsummen von Steuergeldern umfassend saniert. Man findet sie auf touristischen 

Werbeprospekten und auf Briefmarken. Wenn ein Autohändler 

sein neuestes Modell erfolgreich verkaufen will, fotografiert er es vor einer 

Burg. Wenn eine Ehe dauerhaft und glücklich sein soll, muss sie in einem 

Schloss geschlossen werden. Nicht zuletzt wurden Burgen und Schlösser 

zum beliebten Thema vieler Forscher. Das war nicht immer so. Noch einige 

Jahrzehnte zurück waren Burgen und Schlösser in Slowenien, anders als 

in den meisten europäischen Ländern, keine Nationalsymbole. Nach dem 

ersten und besonders nach dem zweiten Weltkrieg wurden sie fast ausschließlich 

und nicht nur von der Seite der offiziellen Politik als Symbole 

der langen Fremdherrschaft und der Ausbeuter des slowenischen Volkes 

gedeutet. Ihre einstiegen Besitzer wurden vertrieben, viele Gebäude wurden 

vernichtet, die Einrichtungen und Archive weggeschleppt und in alle 


19

Adrian Andrei Rusu 

Winde zerstreut. Kaum jemand hat sich zur damaligen Zeit gewagt, Burgen 

und Schlösser in Slowenien zu erforschen. 

Mit diesem Beitrag möchte ich zeigen, wie sich die Bedeutung und Deutung 

der Burgen und Schlösser im heutigen slowenischen Raum durch die 

Zeit gewandelt haben. Wie sahen die Burgen und Schlösser in Slowenien 

ihre einstigen Erbauer und Benutzer? Wie sahen sie die ersten Topografen 

und Geschichtsschreiber wie Paolo Santonino, Johann Weichard Valvasor, 

Ireneo della Croce oder Simon Rutar? Was bedeuteten sie nach 1848 als 

sie die Rolle der Feudalherrschaftssitze verloren haben? Wie sahen sie die 

ersten slowenischen Schriftsteller im 19. Jahrhundert? Wie sahen sie die 

ersten Forscher und Denkmalpfleger in der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts? 

Wie sahen sie die Revolutionäre während des zweiten Weltkrieges 

und kurz danach? Wie sahen sie die Denkmalpfleger, Architekten, Kunsthistoriker 

und Archäologen in der zweiten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts? 

Manche Blicke auf Burgen und Schlösser in Slowenien sind im europäischen 

Raum einzigartig. Die verschiedenen Blicke haben bedeutend zu ihrer 

Erforschung und Erneuerung bzw. Vernichtung beigetragen. Mit einer 

Analyse der Blicke auf Burgen und Schlösser in Slowenien in der Vergangenheit 

wird es vieleicht möglich, zu einem breiteren und objektiveren 

Blick auf ihre heutige Bedeutung zu gelangen. Ich möchte auch darauf aufmerksam 

machen, dass bisher im slowenischen Raum kaum breit interdisziplinär 

ausgelegte Forschungen durchgeführt wurden und deshalb viele 

verschiedene enge Blicke auf das gestern, heute und morgen von Burgen 

und Schlösser existieren, die aber nur sehr selten zu einem klareren generellen 

Blick weiter helfen. 

A Critique of the “Peasant Fortresses” from Romania 

The existence of this subject was conditioned by the persistence of some 

Marxist historiography clichés. No medieval castle in any historic period, 

not even the so-called “peasant fortresses”, was ever meant for the most 

humble social classes. We may therefore contend that fortifications belonging 

exclusively to the “common people” have never actually existed. 

With relation to fortified churches, German Transylvanian historiography 

traditionally uses a term Bauernburg (Ger.) which is closely related to the 

German word meaning “castle” (Burg). In that case, the chosen term is not 

without foundation for two reasons. Firstly, a church as a building is intended 

for collective usage and represents community wealth (a parish consisting 

of the total number of believers in a well-defined territory). Secondly, 

the term Bauernburg has always been related to communities of free peasants 

far from being poor. In this respect, we can only point to one particular 

approach in which this subject matter has been treated in an overly reductionist 

manner: the one displayed by the Romanian historian Ştefan Pascu. 


Maxim Mordovin 

Daniela Dvořáková 

Civitas or Refugium? Life in 10 th –11 th -Century Castles 

in Hungary 

Systematic research of early Hungarian castles started only in the late 

1960s. Many important localities have been investigated so far but the 

excavations have concentrated mainly on the fortifications of these sites. 

However, some traces of the inner structure of castles have also been uncovered 

and – despite the lacking evaluation of archaeological data – could 

have been analysed separately. 

Most early Hungarian castles have been seriously damaged in the last few 

centuries, their inner areas especially. In some cases, this has resulted in 

an almost complete absence of medieval archaeological layers within the 

fortifications (for example at Szabolcs, Hont, Zemplén etc.). Based on these 

observations, some scholars interpreted these castles not as permanent 

regional and royal centres but rather as some kind of asylia or refugia. 

The paper shall review all data available from the published excavations 

to verify this hypothesis, building mainly on such sites as Borsod, Doboka/ 

Dăbâca, Sopron/Ödenburg, Pozsony/Pressburg/Bratislava etc. All of them 

present many traces not only of simple houses but also of various workshops. 

This can be compared with some well-known contemporary castles 

from the neighbouring regions of Poland and Bohemia. The archaeological 

excavations of such sites as Prague, Žatec, Chrudim, Kouřim, Levý Hradec, 

Chełmno, Opole, Szczecin, Wrocław, Kołobrzeg etc. produced indisputable 

and sometimes spectacular finds proving a permanent use of these places 

as settlements. 

In view of these findings, early Hungarian castles cannot be interpreted 

as refugia or asylia. Even if insufficiently researched, traces of their longlasting 

use as settlements are clearly visible. 

Die Frau und ihr Leben auf der mittelalterlichen Burg 

Die mittelalterliche Burg ist in unserer Vorstellung mit der Männerwelt verbunden. 

Die Burg war der Sitz oder die Residenz des Mannes – des Burgherrn 

und seiner „Familie“ (das bedeutet nicht nur Blutsverwandten, sondern 

auch die familiares, die Gästen, Beamten, Diener usw.). Obwohl der 

Burgbesitz das Vorrecht der Könige und Adeliger war, war die Burggemeinschaft 

eine heterogene Gruppe von Menschen, und zwar erstreckte sie sich 

von den Aristokraten bis zu den Leibeigenen. Zu jeder von diesen sozialen 

Gruppen gehörten auch Frauen. Obwohl die schriftlichen Quellen nur geringe 

Angaben enthalten, können wir doch das Bild der Frauen auf mittelalterlichen 

Burgen teilweise rekonstruieren. Zwar reden die mittelalterlichen 

Urkunden sehr selten über Frauen, jedoch waren diese ein wichtiger Teil 

der Burggemeinschaft. Die wichtigste unter ihnen war selbstverständlich 

die Burgfrau – die Gemahlin des Burgbesitzers. Es gibt in der mittelalterlichen 

ungarischen Geschichte auch einige seltene Fälle, wo eine Frau allein 

als Burgbesitzerin auftrat. Aber das waren eher kurze Episoden. Der vorliegende 

Beitrag wird unter anderem solchen konkreten Fällen und Gründen, 

warum dies immer nur ein zeitweiliger Zustand war, gewidmet. 


21

Regina Janíková 

Neben der Burgfrau lebten in der Burg auch ihre Gefährtinnen, die aus den 

Adels- und Bürgerkreisen rekrutierten Hofdamen. Die Damen bewohnten 

oft einen separaten Teil der Burg. Die Hauptaufgabe dieser Frauen war es, 

ihrer Herrin – der Königin oder Burgfrau – beim Zeitvertreib oder Pflichterfüllung 

Gesellschaft zu leisten und sich mit ihr zusammen den Hand- 

und anderen „Frauenarbeiten“ widmen (vor allem der Instandhaltung 

oder Herstellung von Textilien, Kleidungen, Teppichen, Vorhängen usw.). 

Neben der Gemeinschaft von jungen Frauen (consortio virginum), deren 

Hauptaufgabe den Glanz des Hofes zu erhöhen war, gab es auch andere 

Frauen von unterschiedlichem Alter und sozialen Kategorien, welche konkrete 

Pflichten zu erfüllen hatten – z. B. die Ammen, die Erzieherinnen, 

Verwalterinnen usw. Dies waren nicht nur die Angehörigen einer privilegierten 

Gesellschaftsschicht, sondern auch verschiedene Dienerinnen, 

Mägde, Hausgehilfinnen. Das Thema des vorliegenden Beitrags ist es, den 

Alltag und Lebensbedingungen aller dieser auf den mittelalterlichen ungarischen 

Burgen lebenden Frauen zu rekonstruieren. 

Touch of Her Hand: the Reflection of Women in 

Archaeological Sources from Castle Areas 

The aim of this contribution is to summarize the archaeological finds that 

can prove the presence of women in the core areas and outer wards of 

castles. The focus will be on various specific finds discovered during archaeological 

excavations in castles in the Czech Republic, for example the 

weaving tablets or loom weights which are specific for textile production. I 

am going to concentrate on castles and their outer wards in Bohemia only; 

the region of Moravia is not going to be taken into account. 

In Bohemia, several extensive archaeological investigations of castles have 

been carried out. These excavations have supplied us with a large amount 

of artefacts and ecofacts of various kinds stretching from militaria to kitchen 

ware. But can we presume that some of these artefacts were made for 

women and used by women only or at least prevailingly? I want to focus 

on an analysis of traditional approaches to the evaluation of women’s role 

in the castle areas. A comparison of written accounts, iconographic and 

archaeological sources will be carried out in order to try to reveal the approaches 

of past scholars to researching women’s roles and how their 

opinions influenced the results of their work. I am going to compare their 

presumptions and results to my own ideas of how women worked and 

how much, if at all, their work had been appreciated. 

The second part of the contribution will focus on the reflection of women’s 

work in the outer wards of the castles investigated. Again, the archaeological 

finds regarding and reflecting women in the outer wards are going to 

be analyzed. I am going to use some of the ethnographic examples showing 

that for instance all procedures of textile production did not necessarily 

have to be women’s work only. I would like to compare the information 

obtained from the castle cores and from the outer wards. In view of this, 

the excavated pieces of jewellery from various contexts in castle cores and 

outer wards are going to be analyzed. 


Catriona Cooper 

Gemma Minihan 

The final part of the presentation shall concentrate on archaeological 

transformations, their classification and influence on the amount of archaeological 

sources available. 

Bodiam, Scotney and Ightham: Lived Experience 

in the Later Middle Ages 

This paper will focus on the potentials and complexities of exploring the 

lived experience of medieval castles. The paper presents the initial phases 

of an interdisciplinary project funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research 

Council (AHRC) through the Collaborative Doctoral Awards scheme 

at the University of Southampton with support from the National Trust. 

The project will examine the everyday experiences of living, visiting and 

working in Bodiam, Scotney and Ightham through two different approaches: 

documentary research and digital media recreation and re-enactment. 

These three buildings are situated in south-east England and provide a focussed 

research area in which to begin to explore new ways of looking at 

buildings and landscape in the later middle ages. 

The personal motivations for the men who embarked upon substantial 

medieval building projects can never be fully known. However, the significance 

of such projects to the medieval mentality can be illuminated 

through exploration and analysis of the regional setting and the cultural, 

social and economic contexts of the three sites at the end of the fourteenth 

century. In particular, through consideration of the relationships between 

the manorial buildings in question and outlying property boundaries, religious 

houses and neighbouring manors, as well as the personal relationships 

played out against this scenery, a shared grammar of expectation and 

expression centred upon landscape and building becomes evident. 

The buildings at Bodiam, Scotney and Ightham provide a lynchpin for the 

study of wider issues regarding the ways in which medieval buildings and 

their landscapes were experienced and utilised by differing members of 

medieval society. They also allow us to explore what meaning such interactions 

held, and in what ways the environment both shaped, and was 

shaped by, a community of practice which lay at the heart of every social 

relationship and interaction during the late medieval period. 

In addition to documentary research relating to the three sites this project 

also explores the buildings through a series of digital media projects, examining 

the sites just after their initial construction. Digital media and digital 

sensory experience enable us to challenge ideas about the experience 

of the buildings and to explore: 

- the atmosphere of the building; how it was decorated and would have 

‘felt’; 

- the nature of furnishing, food and material culture; 

- how other senses would have had an effect on the experience of 

encountering the building; 

- how the structure and external appearance of the buildings would affect 

the way space was used and how this affected social interaction. 


23

Thomas Kühtreiber 

Ján Beljak 

Pavol Maliniak 

Noémi Pažinová 

Michal Šimkovic 

Through a range of visualization techniques the lives of different members 

of society who encountered the building are being examined in terms 

of their experiences as well as their social interactions. It also provides a 

technique for examining these buildings through the lost or decontextualized 

material culture from a novel, personalised point of view. This paper 

presents the first year of work that has been undertaken on this project 

and how it approaches these buildings as social space. 

Gefahrenstelle Burg. Unfälle auf Burgen als Quellen zur 

Identifikation von unterschiedlichen sozialen Gruppen 

auf Adelssitzen des Mittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit 

Unfälle stellen Sondersituationen im Alltag dar, welche durch ihre bisweilen 

drastischen Folgen für menschliche Existenzen eine erhöhte Chance 

auf Überlieferung haben. Zweifellos ist die Überlieferungschance im Kontext 

der Burgherrenfamilie höher als für Bedienstete, insbesondere wenn 

der Unfall von den verunfallten Personen, Angehörigen oder einem Chronisten 

in einen größeren Bedeutungszusammenhang gestellt wurde. Dies 

gilt zum Beispiel für die Rettung und/oder Genesung einer Person, die als 

Wundertat Gottes auf Fürbitten eines/r Heiligen gedeutet und als Motiv 

für die Stiftung von Votivbildern in Wallfahrtsstätten wurde. Auch wenn 

quellenkritisch die Intention der jeweiligen bildlichen oder schriftlichen 

Überlieferung eines Unfalls zu hinterfragen ist, so liefern diese Quellen 

dennoch schlaglichtartig Hinweise auf Aufenthaltsbereiche unterschiedlicher 

Personengruppen innerhalb einer Burg, wie z. B. Kinder, aber auch 

Beweggründe für den zum Zeitpunkt des Unfalls von der Person gewählten 

Aufenthaltsort. 

Die Burg Pustý hrad bei Zvolen – eine Zeugin 

mittelalterlichen Lebens. Differenzierung des Raumes der 

königlichen Burg auf der Grundlage der archäologischen, 

architektonischen und historischen Forschung 

Nur wenige Mauerreste erinnern an die wechselvolle Geschichte des mehr 

als 4,2 ha großen Burgkomplexes Pustý hrad (Verwüstete Burg) bei Zvolen 

in der Slowakei, der auf einer 571 m NN hohen Bergkuppe des Javorie Höhenzuges 

gebaut wurde. Die Burg wurde im 12. Jahrhundert errichtet und 

urkundlich erstmals zur Zeit der Regierung Andreas II. in der ersten Hälfte 

des 13. Jahrhunderts erwähnt. Der Burgkomplex besteht aus der Oberen 

und Unteren Burg. Die Obere Burg scheint laut bisherigen Forschungen 

älter zu sein, und die Errichtung des Turms der Komitats Burg setzen wir 

schon in der zweiten Hälfte des 12. Jahrhunderts voraus. 

Die Obere Burg erstreckt sich auf einer Fläche von 3,5 ha. Mit zwei Querwällen 

ist das Areal in drei Teile gegliedert. Im ersten Teil befinden sich 

zwei Wohntürme und die Eingangspforte. Im zweiten Teil, der ungefähr 

1 ha Groß ist, sind Spuren von handwerklichen Aktivitäten entdeckt wor- 


Wendy Landewé 

den. Zu diesem Teil gehört auch eine Bastion, die mit einem Graben selbständig 

geschützt worden ist. Die dichteste Bebauung befindet sich im gotischen 

Teil der Oberen Burg und zwar in ihrer nördlichen Ecke. Hier befinden 

sich auf einer Fläche von 0,5 ha der Burgpalast, die Wasserzisterne 

und weitere Wohn- und wirtschaftliche Objekte. Ungefähr 100 m niedriger 

erstreckt sich die Untere Burg mit ihrer vorgeschobenen Befestigung. 

Die Untere Burg hat eine Fläche von 0,65 ha und die größte Struktur hier 

ist der Donjon (Wohnturm) mit einem Fundament von 19,8 x 19,8 m. Er 

gehörte zu den größten Türmen im ehemaligen ungarischen Königreich. 

Man sieht wie die Pustý hrad Burgruine in landschaftlicher Einsamkeit 

von der modernen Stadt abgeschirmt immer noch einen gewissen Reiz auf 

die menschliche Phantasie ausübt. In dem Beitrag konzentrieren wir uns 

auf die Arpadenzeit, vor allem auf die zweite Hälfte des 13. Jahrhunderts. 

Wir versuchen eine Modellierung der Bedingungen auf der Burg, sowie 

eine Rekonstruktion der nachgewiesenen Aktivitäten und deren räumlichen 

Äußerung. Nur wenn man die Burg in ihrer historisch-geografischen 

Umgebung unter Einbeziehung aller soziologischen, politischen, administrativen, 

militärischen und wirtschaftlich mitwirkenden Kräfte betrachtet, 

kann sie uns über ihre Funktion Auskunft geben. Leitmotiv der Studie ist 

der Umbau der Komitats Burg in eine große Befestigungsanlage – Refugium, 

zusammen mit einer königlichen Residenz – bis die Änderung der 

Bedeutung der Burg während der Zeit der Oligarchen bzw. des Adelsgeschlechtes 

der Familie Balassa. 

Castles and Gender in Late Medieval Holland 

This paper on castles and gender will explore the ways in which the castle 

was appropriated by different social groups to convey messages to different 

audiences about sex, love and marital life in the Middle Ages. 

In recent years the question of how to look at medieval castles has become 

the subject of a lively debate. There are castellologists who have convincingly 

argued that castles were not foremost built as defensive and/or offensive 

structures, but as noble residences communicating social status 

and (political) power. 

Yet, medieval castles did not only communicate these cultural messages 

materially; castles also played a remarkable part in medieval literature and 

works of art, guiding and educating contemporary audiences. Not only was 

the castle often used as a symbol because of the widely acknowledged defensive 

qualities it possessed as an architectural object. It was furthermore 

a valuable motif in arts and literature for its capacity to testify of the noble 

background and prosperity of its owners and inhabitants. 

Besides these themes, related to the way nobility tried to define itself in relation 

to other social groups, the castle was involved in conveying social messages 

of another kind; the way men and women were looked upon by medieval 

thinkers and writers. Some of them used castles in their creative outings 

to teach the men and women in medieval society how to live. Others used 

castles to play with and to comment on these social and moral guidelines. 


25

Alessandro Brodini 

Many interesting questions can be asked, for instance: in what way exactly 

were castles used to communicate views considering the role of the noble 

man and woman in medieval and late medieval marriage and society? 

Who or which persons directed these messages and which target groups 

did they have in mind? Which roles are bestowed upon men and women 

in these literary works or works of art? How far do these roles match the 

prescribed male or female behaviour? What happens for instance when 

women in medieval sources undertake military action to defend castles? 

Or when males are not able to take them? 

As it turns out, it seems little has changed over the last 500 to 600 years. 

We recognize the views on men and women as they were communicated in 

medieval times. As far as the castle is involved, there are still distant echoes 

from the past. In modern day movies for instance, there is still the image of 

the lady in the tower and the noble knight who has to free her, although the 

medieval tower is nowadays often replaced by a modern apartment building, 

as we can see in the famous movie Pretty Woman (1990), starring Julia 

Roberts and Richard Gere. 

The Fortress as a Social Space: the 16 th –17 th -Century 

Venetian Terraferma as a Case in Point 

The extensive fortification programme enacted by the Republic of Venice 

between the defeat of Agnadello (1509) and the War of Gradisca (1615) 

gave rise to important modifications in the organization of the Terraferma, 

as the Venetian and Lombard territories under the dominion of the Serenissima 

were called. The strategic planning behind this defence policy and 

the construction process of the individual fortresses have both been amply 

treated in the foregoing literature. Less attention has instead been paid 

to the effects of the process of fortification on the inhabitants of the sites 

that were being transformed into “war machines” or to the spaces that still 

remained available to them. 

These defence machines were also administered and controlled by means 

of rectors, that is, Venetian patricians who were sent to the Terraferma and 

who subsequently were required to prepare a report on the condition of 

the fortress they had governed. My paper utilizes these reports together 

with contemporary documentary evidence to assess the impact on the 

population of the construction of a fortress. 

Numerous examples, in particular small-to-medium sized fortresses located 

along the south-western border of the Republic’s territories (Crema, 

Orzinuovi, Asola, Peschiera, Legnago) demonstrate that the decision to 

privilege military functions had heavy repercussions on life in the town 

that was undergoing fortification. The reinforcement of the city walls led to 

a closure of the urban structure that was compounded by what was called 

the “spianata”, that is, the demolition of houses, monasteries and mills, together 

with the elimination of vineyards and other cultivated areas around 

the outside perimeter of the walls. Even economic activity was sacrificed 

to the security of the defence system, so that at Orzinuovi the pasturing of 

small animals was prevented because it would have ruined the uniformity 

of the glacis, while in Peschiera fishing was greatly complicated by the 


György Domokos 

Zsuzsanna Kopeczny 

presence of the bastions in the lake. If water was an indispensible resource 

to the life of a fortress, it could instead become seriously dangerous to the 

health of its inhabitants when it stagnated in moats, as happened in Crema, 

where the air became impossible to breathe. In Legnago the freedom of 

movement fundamental to commerce was severely hampered by the necessary 

control of the passage of persons and goods within the fortress. 

Even the very presence of markets could be considered a security risk, so 

they were moved to sites outside the walls, usually less convenient settings 

far removed from the urban centre. Crushed by the weight of taxes 

imposed on them to sustain the huge expense of the construction of the 

fortifications, the population was forced to negotiate relations with the 

soldiery (and not infrequently did social tensions emerge), and all “useful” 

inhabitants were obliged to remain available for emergencies. 

Thus, while in the mid-16 th century Venice considered its fortresses as “the 

foundation of the State,” often the only way to escape the many disadvantages 

incurred by life in such sites was to abandon them and emigrate to a 

neighbouring city. 

Das Zeughaus von Kaschau und seine Verbindungen 

Die Stadt und Festung von Kaschau war das Zentrum von oberungarischer 

Militärgrenze und in den 1560er Jahren ist dort das größte königliche 

Zeughaus in Ungarn erbaut worden. Dieses Zeughaus versorgte die in seiner 

Umgebung liegende Burgen und Städten mit Waffen, Munition und anderen 

Materialien. Es hat über seine eigene Besatzung verfügt, in welcher 

Soldaten, Beamten, Handwerksleute und Gesellen gedient haben. Dabei 

hat das Zeughaus auch viele Handwerker und Kaufleute beschäftigt zur 

Anschaffung der vielen nötigen Waren, für deren Herstellung das Zeughaus 

über keine eigenen Kapazitäten verfügt hatte. 

The Castle of Timişoara in the Early Modern Period, 

as Seen by its Contemporaries 

The Castle of Timişoara has a rich historical background. Originally built 

as a royal residence of temporary use for Charles I of Anjou, it later served 

as the residence of the Count of Timiş, one of the most important functions 

during the 15 th and 16 th centuries. Following the Ottoman conquest 

in 1552, the city became the centre of the vilayet of Timişoara and the castle 

continued its existence as residence of the pasha of Timişoara. 

However, written documents illustrating the everyday life in the medieval 

castle of Timişoara are almost nonexistent. Late medieval or early modern 

descriptions provide precious information regarding the aspect of the 

castle. These chronicles were written a short time before or during the 

Ottoman occupation, so they illustrate later realities. One of the earliest 

descriptions was made in 1551 by General Castaldo, during the refortification 

of the castle after the first and unsuccessful Ottoman siege. We can 


27

Ileana Burnichioiu 

Oana Toda 

note the General’s optimist attitude regarding the resistance of the castle, 

when he affirms that it is inexpugnable. 

Another detailed description comes from a famous Ottoman traveller, 

Evliya Celebi. In a very plastic way he compares the shape of the castle 

of Timişoara to a turtle lying in water. Evliya Celebi also underlines the 

strength and beauty of the fortification. 

On the other hand, Heinrich Ottendorf, an Austrian military engineer, observes 

on the derelict state of the castle and the negligence of the Ottomans 

regarding the maintenance of the moats. He is filled with consternation in 

the matter of water source: some of the inhabitants take their water from 

the moats, while others throw their waste in at the same place. 

The most accurate graphic representation made by contemporaries stems 

from Franciscus Wattay. He could observe the castle of Timişoara during 

his captivity there. 

In all these descriptions we can recognize the importance of the castle 

in its contemporaries’ mentality. The Ottomans had a well-known saying 

about Timişoara: “Who conquers Buda, conquers a town, but who conquers 

Timişoara, conquers a country”. 

Castle after Castle in Transylvania: the Social and Cultural 

Changes (16 th –20 th Centuries) 

Little scientific interest has been directed towards the study of late medieval 

castles’ afterlife on the territory of Transylvania. Tagging that period 

as a decaying one from the point of view of their functionality – especially 

regarding the ownership or strategic means, other castle-related subjects 

seem to hold a diminished appeal for both the academic environment and 

general public. 

Having this particular research gap in mind, we have decided to question 

the various data related to these monuments’ state from the 16 th century 

onwards, in order to point out the general phenomena, certain patterns or 

particular developments of their social and cultural image for both the socalled 

literate milieu and the popular culture. 

Therefore, using a comparative method we will gather information related 

to their owners, recipients, abandonment or functional changes, academic 

interest and heritage protection, as well as popular culture perceptions. 

We will submit all these aspects to specific questioning, such as: When? By 

and for whom? Why? 

By collecting all these information we will be able to synthesize certain 

conclusions related to the social and cultural role of medieval Transylvanian 

castles in the 16 th –20 th centuries, establishing the scale and motives 

for changes such as the loss of primary functions or abandonment of a specific 

structure. Moreover, this research aims at offering an overall picture 

regarding the first tendencies of studying and protecting these old monuments, 

analyzing the reasons that lead to a general growth of interest in 

them. Nevertheless, a strong-point would be putting an emphasis on data 


Martin Krenn 

Wojciech Brillowski 

Arkadiusz Koperkiewicz 

that show how the local communities and the general public apprehend 

these old castles, providing the academic environment with certain clues 

reflecting the nowadays missing elements of the monuments’ former existence. 

Die Kreuzenstein – späthistoristischer Burgenbau 

Im ausgehenden 19. Jahrhundert wird Österreich, wie auch seine Nachbarländer, 

von einem sozialen bzw. kulturellen Phänomen erfasst – der 

Burgenrenaissance. Der Versuch des hohen aber auch höchsten Adels, sich 

von den in immer höhere soziale Bereiche vordringenden bürgerlichen 

Strukturen abzugrenzen sowie im Sinne einer standesinternen Konkurrenzsituation 

auch den eigenen Status neu zu definieren, findet besonders 

in der Beschäftigung mit dem Mittelalter im allgemeinen, besonders aber 

mit Burgen seinen Niederschlag. 

Ähnlich wie schon zur Entstehungszeit der Anlagen, werden der repräsentative 

Charakter von Burgen und die daraus abgeleitete Selbstdefinition 

der Eigentümer herausgestrichen. Die Hohkönigsburg, die Marienburg, 

Schloss Vaduz oder Schloss Tirol aber auch Neuschwanstein können als 

hervorragende internationale Beispiele für dieses Phänomen gelten. 

Dieser Vortrag widmet sich ausgehend von der Burganlage Kreuzenstein 

im Besonderen der Situation der Burgenrenaissance in Österreich und 

versucht die handelnden Personen und ihre Beweggründe näher zu beleuchten. 

Graf Hans von Wilczek, Johann Karl von Khevenhüller, Erzherzog Franz Ferdinand 

oder Franz von Liechtenstein als Besitzer standen gemeinsam mit 

ihren Architekten und Baumeistern (Carl Gangolf Kaysers oder Humbert 

Walchers von Molthein) bedingt durch ihre Ansätze einer (Komplett-)Wiederherstellung 

in einem hochspannenden, intellektuellen Diskurs mit den 

ersten Vertretern einer „modernen“ Denkmalpflege (z. B. Aloys Riegel) im 

deutschsprachigen Raum. 

An Hand der Baugeschichten der Kreuzenstein, aber auch anderer österreichischer 

Anlagen, wie der Lichtenstein oder auch der Hardegg, die in 

Österreich als hervorragende Beispiele der Burgenrenaissance dienen 

können, sollen die handelnden Personen und ihre Motive sowie das innere 

Beziehungsgeflecht vorgestellt und eine Bewertung dieses Phänomens 

auch für den heutigen Umgang mit Burgen getroffen werden. 

The Bäslack Castle – a Stronghold, a Church, a Legend 

The Castle at Bäslack (Bezławki) remains in constant use for about 540 

years now. Built in the late 14 th century as a Teutonic Order borderland 

stronghold, it was converted into a protestant church in the 16 th century, 

and again in the 1980s, into a Roman Catholic church. 


29

What is surprising, bearing in mind the castle's complicated history and 

changing function, is the fact that its form has been only slightly altered. 

Another factor is that for all this years, it has been, and still is, a beating 

heart of the local population. At first, it served as a refugium for the peasants 

and merchants living in the area, but what is even more important, 

as an administrative centre of the Order built in a region which had been 

already colonized for about 30 years. At times it played a much greater 

role as a resting post for a crusade against Lithuania and for a period of 

two years, as the residence of Prince Swidrigal, one of the major players 

in Eastern European politics of the time. After the conversion, apart from 

being a spiritual centre of the village, it remained an economic and administrative 

one, being the core of the vast estates of the local priest, a 

major landlord in the region. With a school located nearby, it was also the 

intellectual and educational centre. Later yet, from 17 th century onward, 

the church has become a kind of honorific burial ground for the elevated 

members of Prussian and German community born in this region, including 

a certain army general, as well as a prime minister. 

Having all this in mind, it is not surprising to find out that the castle was 

also a kind of legendary place for the local people. Even in the 20 th century 

there was a legend circling among them, telling the mythical story of 

how the castle was built by a certain heroic knight fighting the vicious pagans. 

Today, with the original population nearly extinct and replaced after 

1945 with Polish settlers, new myths are told about mysterious tunnels 

and crypts underneath the castle. In the internet, on the other hand, one 

can find yet another story about the Holy Grail left here by Swidrigal (indeed 

there is mention in the sources of him donating a chalice for the local 

church). He is thought to be the descendant of the pre-Norman English 

dynasty who found refuge in the Lithuanian forests in late 11 th century, 

carrying away with him the Grail as the most secret of relics... 

In fact, we have started our research on the castle attracted by those myths 

and since then have remained “anthropologically sensitive”. Through extensive 

interdisciplinary research, ongoing since 2008, we were able to reconstruct 

the original plan of the castle, as well as the architectural form of 

the manor house. During the last year campaign, we launched digs in the 

village, where, according to the written sources, the first medieval church 

was located. Even if we haven't discovered its remains yet, we came across 

the 14 th –15 th -century cemetery. In fact it is the very first properly excavated 

burial ground from the times of the Teutonic Order. Apart from their 

general importance for the late medieval archaeology of the region, the 

excavations provided us with artefacts confirming the history of the village 

as known from written sources. Based on such valuable information from 

the various disciplinary fields of the humanities, our aim is to present a 

kind of sociological history of the castle as seen through the eyes of local 

people across centuries. 


Barbara Pospieszna 

Kazimierz Pospieszny 

Jože Hudales 

Kloster-Residenzen der „Maria-Diener“ oder 

Wehrbauten der Kreuzritter in Preußen – zwei Bilder der 

Deutschordensburgen ehemals und heute 

Die Kreuzritter übten ihre Territorialherrschaft in Preußen im Namen 

der Muttergottes Maria, Patronin und Königin aus, gestützt auf die Komtursburgen. 

Die bauurbanistische Struktur der weitläufigen mehrteiligen 

Anlagen, die seit Mitte des 13. bis Anfang des 15. Jahrhunderts errichtet 

worden sind, spiegelte ein komplexes Bild der den Ordensregeln unterliegenden, 

jedoch einer höheren theokratischen Idee untergeordneten Ständegesellschaft 

wider. Die Burgen dienten auch als Angriffsstützpunkte und 

Sammelorte für die Kreuzzüge, zuerst gegen die Pruzzen, ab dem 14. Jahrhundert 

gegen die Litauer und ab 1410 im Krieg gegen Polen. 

Die Deutschordensburgen stellten, im Licht der kastellologischen Forschungen, 

fortifizierte Konventhäuser dar, die auf der in mehreren Etagen 

ausgebauten vitae communis der Ritter- und Priesterbrüder, Halbbrüder 

und Diener organisiert worden waren. Dazu zählten die mit ihnen integrierten 

oder von ihnen abgesonderten Würdenträgerresidenzen mit zentralen 

Verwaltungs- und Repräsentationsfunktionen. Ergänzt wurden sie 

durch gewerbedienstliche Fachhöfe auf den Vorburgen (die Ackerbau-, 

Gestüt- und Viehhöfe stellten sie auch frei im Gelände auf). Das Phänomen 

der Deutschordensburgen besteht in der mehrschichtigen, hierarchisch 

geordneten Gesellschaftsstruktur, die einen in sich geschlossenen Organismus 

bildete. Diese umfangreichen Anlagen wurden mit einem System von 

meistens zwei Befestigungslinien und dem Verteidigungsgeschoß an der 

Mauerkrone des Wohnhauses gesichert, jedoch waren sie nicht von den 

Abwehr- und Wehrfunktionen dominiert. Dies bestätigen die Beispiele der 

erhaltenen Burgenhäuser oder Burgenfragmente, vor allem Mewe, Thorn, 

Elbing, Königsberg (bis neulich), Schwetz, Straßburg, Schlochau, Bütow, 

Marienwerder (Kapitelsburg), mit der Marienburg an der Spitze. 

Solch ein aus den kastellologischen Gründen folgendes Bild ist heute keineswegs 

repräsentativ für die Exposition der Deutschordensburgen. Es 

dominiert das durch die Forschung und Denkmalpflege des 19. Jahrhunderts 

eingeführte Interesse für die Wehrfunktionen. Dieses drängt die 

ehemals an symbolischen Bedeutungen gesättigten, architektonisch reich 

gestalteten Bauten in die Rolle von ritterlichen „Festungen“ oder Schanzen 

und sogar massiven Mauerkulissen als Arena für pseudohistorische 

Schauspieler. 

Castles in Slovene Folk Tradition: Some Examples from 

the Šaleška Dolina Valley 

The author will analyze some aspects of the extremely rich and vast folk 

tradition about castles in Slovenia which show that almost every castle 

or manor-house left some traces in the Slovene folk tradition. One of the 

most comprehensive books of records on folk traditions about castles was 

published by Janko Orožen in 1936 under the title “Gradovi in graščine v 

narodnem izročilu: Gradovi in graščine ob Savinji, Sotli in Savi” (Castles 


31

Rajko Muršič 

and Manor-Houses in Folk Tradition: Castles and Manor-Houses along the 

Savinja, Sotla and Sava Rivers). I will compare these common characteristics 

of folk tradition about castles in Slovenia with the records about castles 

in the Šaleška Dolina Valley in central Slovenia. The valley represents 

a small but well-rounded geographical unit with more than 20 known castles 

and manor-houses which are well represented in the records of narrative 

and song tradition, in different journalistic and topographic reports 

and in other ethnographical material from the 19 th and 20 th centuries. In 

Orožen's book the castles from Šaleška Dolina with 15 sites and more than 

60 different records are also well represented. Among the narrative motifs 

the most frequent are the records about Turkish raids on castles, about the 

“evil lords of the castle” who tortured their serfs, and the records about 

castle and manor ruins as very special and “dangerous places” where a 

treasure could be dug out but where you could also meet the bewitched 

castle dwellers, witches or other mythological creatures. The author will 

compare these different historical records with the contemporary narratives 

about castles and try to analyze the various modes of producing and 

changing narratives about castles as collective memories in the second 

half of the 20 th century and today. 

Kapralov’s Castle and Upper Cmurek (Mureck) Castle 

as Venues of Alternative Punk Rock Scene in Trate, 

Slovenske Gorice 

From the perspectives of historical anthropology, anthropology of popular 

music and anthropology of space and place, the author will present the 

role and impact of two castles in the village of Trate in the region of Slovenske 

Gorice (Slovenia) to the life of its inhabitants. 

Between the late 1970s and the early 1990s, an extraordinary creative alternative 

scene emerged and developed in the Trate Youth Club in Slovenske 

Gorice. Its emergence was possible only due to the fact that the local youth 

occupied two rooms in Kapralov's Castle (also named the Upper Castle or 

New Kinek) in the heart of the village of Trate. Kapralov’s Castle was built at 

the end of the 18 th century from the ruins of the defence towers of the older 

castle of Upper Cmurek (Upper Mureck) and the nunnery in the lower part 

of the village. The situation in Trate was very specific, since there are not 

many villages around with two castles and a deserted early industrial mill 

with vacant space. Even if the youth and rock club moved from the Upper 

Castle to the mill eventually, both castles played an important role in the 

emergence and development of the local alternative scene in Trate. 

In many different ways both castles influenced life in the village. The oldest 

interlocutors from the village remembered that the village (well, the 

castles and the mill) got electricity before WWI, which was more than 

half a century before the neighbouring villages. After WWII, during the 

cultural awareness and education campaign led by the Communist party, 

many public events were organised in the Lower and Upper Castles. These 

events comprised both entertainment (public festivities, dance parties, 

etc.) and more formal meetings (local celebrations at national holidays, 

theatre plays, education lectures, etc.). In the 1950s, the Lower Castle be- 


Vesna Merc 

Harald Rosmanitz 

came an old people's home, while a decade later it became a closed psychiatric 

institution Hrastovec-Trate. In the 2000s, this institution opted for an 

open treatment of its patients and the castle was again deserted. 

Based on the ethnographic material collected during his fieldwork in the 

1990s, the author will present a short history of Kapralov's (Upper) Castle 

and an interesting story of its pre-war owner, a Russian immigrant, physician 

Serghei Kapralov. The emergence and decline of three consecutive 

youth clubs in the village after WWII will be presented, all of which were 

located in the Upper Castle. The author will also present another interesting 

character from the village, an English entrepreneur Harry Hanson, and 

his construction of the electric mill, as well as some other events related to 

the castles in the 20 th century. 

Finally, the author will touch upon the still unclear destiny of the Lower 

Castle (Upper Cmurek) after 2004, when the psychiatric institution moved 

out. The castle originating from the 12 th century is much too big for the local 

community to use and preserve, athough they would have some ideas 

for its new use. Rumours have it that some foreign investors have shown 

interest in developing the Lower Castle into a hotel or an entertainment 

centre (perhaps a night club). Perhaps the most challenging idea for its future 

purpose is the project for the establishment of a national museum of 

popular music, especially rock music, proposed by some actors of the local 

alternative rock scene. 

Back to the Future? Heritage-Making and Castles 

Heritage is a multilayered experience, closely linked to the regulation of 

social meanings and praxis, intertwined with identity making and as such 

promptly reflects changes in societies. Heritage concepts disguise cultural 

processes of identity formation, which are essential for heritage. Previous 

research has shown that archaeological heritage went through several 

profound changes in the last decades, as evident in its presentations, representations 

and interpretations. 

Through an analysis of various examples of images and identity readings of 

castles in the last couple of decades we will attempt to identify the change 

of heritage regarding castles in south-eastern Europe with special emphasis 

on Slovenia. The paper will focus on the performative power of castle 

identities for the national, regional, company, local or personal identities. 

The Castle Project in the Spessart – Scientists and 

Volunteers Explore a Cultural Landscape 

In 2004, the Archäologisches Spessartprojekt (ASP – Project for Archaeology 

of the Spessart-Region), an Institute at the University of Würzburg, introduced 

a new model for cooperation between archaeologists and interested 

volunteers whose origins are to be found in the UK: the so-called „Commu- 


33

Silvija Pisk 

nal Dig“. With this model, non-professionals get the chance to participate actively 

in an archaeological excavation alongside experienced archaeologists. 

The main goal of the concept is to arouse people’s interest in local archaeology 

and the cultural heritage of their homeland and turn them into 

ambassadors for the cultural treasures of their vicinity. Since the general 

awareness of our cultural heritage has gradually declined due to a variety 

of factors, it is as important as ever to make people aware of the cultural 

wealth that surrounds them and the significance of archaeology in 

unearthing and preserving that wealth for future generations, both on a 

smaller and wider scales. 

In parallel, involving and instructing dedicated residents guarantees effective 

protection and maintenance of the monuments in question. The measures 

comply with essential requirements of several treaties by the Council 

of Europe, above all the Convention of Valetta (protection of archaeological 

heritage) and the Convention of Florence. 

More than a ruin – a close bond with the castle: 

On closer inspection, one will quickly discover the local population to have 

a certain, special bond with the castles and ruins that surround them. To 

many people, those places are almost magical and often tightly linked with 

their childhood. The stories and myths surrounding these strongholds further 

serve in making them ever more attractive. Without the fascination 

connected with these castles, neither the resident population’s general 

interest in the Middle Ages nor the willingness to take action helping the 

research into such monuments could be duly explained. 

Croatian Medieval Fortifications Between Academic and 

Pop-Scientific Approach: Selected Examples 

Fortifications are a constant subject of interest to the academic population 

and they also intrigue the general public, but the approaches of both 

groups, as well as their understanding of the fortifications phenomenon, 

differ in many ways. This paper will be based on five years’ (2007–2011) 

experience of research and development of a university course entitled 

“Medieval Fortress in Croatia and Slavonia” at the Department of History, 

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, as well 

as the experience gained during the development of tourist programmes 

focused on medieval fortresses in Croatia. 

The course is based on the study of medieval fortresses from multiple perspectives 

and though an interdisciplinary approach: history, archeology, 

art history and literature. The subjects include, for example, the ways of 

building a fortress, the role of certain parts of a fortress, ways of the siege 

and defence of fortifications, everyday life and the role of fortifications in 

the middle ages. Some topics are given more or less attention, depending 

on the student interest. Also, each student examines the history of a selected 

fortification (its origin, owners and downfall), as well as its present 

condition (current situation and possible archaeological research). In addition 

to working on different types of medieval sources and mandatory 

visits to fortifications to determine their present conditions, students also 


Zsolt Csok 

Mira Strmčnik Gulič 

Mateja Ravnik 

look back at the literary references to the fortifications’ history (like old 

travelogues, folklore tales and legends). Fieldwork has a special role in the 

study of medieval fortifications. 

Itineraries of travel agencies are adapted to users, who are mostly interested 

in the everyday life and various legends associated with a particular 

medieval fortification. Legends are the best way to create good tourist 

itineraries and to attract visitors. A good example of this is the program 

Secrets of the Black Queen which leads tourists to the castles that were, at 

some point in time, in possession of the infamous Barbara of Cilli (Celje), 

the second wife of the Hungarian-Croatian king Sigismund. Through the 

programme, the visitors get acquainted with the legends and historical 

facts behind the “Black Queen”, as well as with the historical specifics of 

individual castles, their present degree of preservation and research. 

However, both approaches lead to a common goal: the research and popularization 

of Croatian fortifications. In fact, most of them – especially the 

ones in continental Croatia – are still insufficiently explored, both historically 

and archaeologically, neglected and unknown to the public. 

Castrum Carazna and its Domain: a Hidden Castle and 

Clear Social Ambient (11 th –13 th Centuries) 

First mentioned in the late 11 th century, Castrum Carazna, then the centre 

of Crasna County, still remains a mystery. The exact identification of this 

maximum interest point was and still is the main purpose of the region’s 

medieval archaeologists. Although its position during the 12 th century and 

later is uncertain, the domain of Carazna developed into an important centre 

of north-western Transylvania. The first written documents mention 

all of the social elements a castle needed, though. 

The main purpose of the present paper is to present the castles around 

Castrum Carazna, the hot spots of the county, that later, during the 13 th 

century (1249) became strong trade and military strategic points defining 

the county’s social structure. Also, we raise questions concerning the 

disappearance of the old castrum. Why did the nobles move the centre to 

Valko? What kind of social factors could have influenced this decision? Is in 

fact the castle of Somlyo the original Castrum Carazna? 

Marchpurch. The Upper Castle of Maribor 

In the presentation we will discuss the results of the 2010/2011 excavations 

which followed the preliminary probing, conducted in 1985, on the 

hill named Piramida above the city of Maribor (Marburg). The research 

took place on the western part of the plateau, comprising the western part 

of the castle complex and inner ward, along with the outer part of the castle 

wall. The hill was first settled in prehistory and then again in the late 

Roman period. Before building work on the castle started, the ground was 


35

levelled and thus prepared for extensive construction. The castle has been 

occupied until the 18 th century when it was demolished and the building 

material used for construction of other buildings around Maribor. Among 

the archaeological finds excavated, a broken bronze seal is particularly 

worth mentioning. It belonged to Ulrich III of Marburg, a Maribor feudal 

lord who lived in the castle around 1250. Also of interest is a well or a cistern 

uncovered in the castle courtyard. 

The excellent strategic position of the hill overlooking the passage over the 

river Drava, which had been used already during the Roman period, coupled 

with a fine view over the Drava Valley were the main reasons for choosing 

Piramida to build a castle by 1106 at the latest. The Duke of Carinthia, Bernhard 

of Spanheim, having defeated the Askvinians, acquired vast estates in 

almost all of the so-called Drau March (the March of Drava), a border county 

established in 970 after the Hungarians had been pushed back to the Pesnica 

Valley. With that the conditions were ripe for the founding of Maribor 

(Marburg) Castle on Piramida, as centre of the march ruled by margraves 

who performed administrative, military and judicial functions. 

Duke Bernhard died in 1147 on a crusade in Asia Minor without any offspring, 

so his lands were inherited by Ottokar III, a nephew on his wife’s 

side. With Ottokar III Maribor Castle lost its function as residence and became 

headquarters of the Traungau dominion which was run by its administrators 

until 1182. In the following year, the so-called Lords of Marburg 

emerged as provincial-princely serf-knights (ministeriales) and administered 

the seat until 1376. They were brought to this area by Ottokar IV of 

Traungau and remained the hereditary castle administrators even under 

the Bambergs who took over the castle in 1192. The Bambergs also reorganized 

the dominion around 1200, dividing it into the upper and lower 

parts. 

After the Lords of Marburg had died out, the ownership passed through 

the hands of many families until 1784 when the castle was finally abandoned. 

Thus the main causes for the decline of Maribor Castle seem to be 

the dying out of the founding family (namely Bernhard and Kunigunde of 

Spanheim), the division of the dominion by the Bambergs and, last but not 

least, the founding of the town of Maribor after the mid-13 th century. The 

town was even named after the castle on Piramida. 

Following a very important beginning as the main castle of the border 

county, signified clearly by its very name – “march purg – the castle in the 

march, the border castle”–, a period of stagnation set in. Still, in spite of its 

diminishing importance and all of the additions and improvements to the 

buildings in the following centuries, the castle complex retained its original 

design till the very end of its existence. 

(Translated by J. Ravnik) 


Tatjana Tkalčec 

Andrej Janeš 

The Medieval Castle of “Vrbouch” in Klenovec Humski 

(Northwestern Croatia) 

The paper presents the archaeological excavations of the castle of Vrbouch 

in northwestern part of Croatia, which gave its name to the entire 

archdeaconry. The castle is mentioned directly or indirectly in historical 

sources from the period between 1267 and 1497. The archaeological investigations 

ascertained the polygonal layout of the Romanesque castle, 

erected perhaps as early as the end of the 12 th century and definitely during 

the first half of the 13 th century. It consists of a perimeter wall, a palace 

in the north with ancillary structures at ground level, a southern keep, 

a courtyard with a cistern and probably subsidiary timber structures in 

the southeastern and eastern part of the courtyard; a smaller trapezoidal 

eastern room was added to the castle core during one of the later phases 

of the castle’s existence, that is, in the latter half of the 15 th century. In one 

of the earliest construction phases, an elongated structure made of stone, 

perhaps a defended entrance to the castle, was built outside the core area, 

next to the northeastern section of the perimeter wall. The uncovered remains 

of a timber tower erected in the 16 th century atop the very ruins of 

the medieval castle confirm the continuation of life on the site in the early 

modern period. 

Based on the archaeological finds from stratigraphically excavated layers, 

we can envisage the organization of the interior space of the castle, that 

is, the function of the rooms themselves and the activities taking place in 

them, both on the ground level and on the (unpreserved) residential and 

representative first floor of the castle hall. Precious information on the life 

course of the medieval castle was gained from the excavated finds, as well 

as from the results of archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological analyses. 

A View on Life in a Feudal Castle: Finds Analysis from 

the Castle of Cesargrad (2008 and 2010 Excavation 

Campaigns) 

The castle of Cesargrad is just one of many old castles and forts in northwestern 

Croatia. It is located on the west side of the Cesargrad hill, just 

northwest of the town of Klanjec, from where it overlooks the Sutla River 

and its gorge of Zelenjak. Today it is situated on the state border between 

Croatia and Slovenia, near the castle of Kunšperk on the Slovenian side. 

Cesargrad was first mentioned in 1399 when it was in possession of the 

Counts of Cilli (Celje). After the Counts of Cilli died out in 1456, it passed 

from hand to hand between Styrian and Slavonian nobles, until it became 

the property of the Erdödy family at the end of the 15 th century. January 

29 th 1573 was an important date in Cesargrad’s history, as the castle was 

destroyed then by the peasant armies during the Great Peasant Revolt. The 

Erdödys restored Cesargrad, but in the early 17 th century the castle was 

already referred to as a ruin. 

In 2008 and 2010 the Croatian Conservation Institute carried out two 

archaeological research campaigns at Cesargrad. The 2008 campaign 


37

Tajana Pleše 

involved the exploration of the interior and surroundings of the square 

tower “H”, which is located in the northeastern corner of the castle core. 

In 2010, excavations were carried out in the large room “K” of the south 

wing of the hall, i.e. the living quarters. Along with archaeological research, 

conservation and restoration of this valuable late medieval monument has 

been planned due to the fact that a large part of the preserved standing 

architecture is in poor condition. 

In both campaigns a large quantity of kitchen, table and technical ceramics 

has been found, among which late Gothic stove-tiles stand out due to 

their shape. Most of kitchen ceramics consists of coarse pottery with only 

a small amount of fine tableware. Although the major part of Cesargrad remains 

unexcavated, some observations about the quality of life and social 

status of the inhabitants can already be made based on the data obtained. 

A distinctively small amount of fine glazed pottery and majolica is surprising, 

since this has been a feudal lord’s residence. The interpretation of the 

distribution of finds leads to the conclusion that the excavated areas were 

used as living and working quarters by the castle’s inhabitants whose activities 

were associated with preparation of food and drink, as well as their 

storage. Namely, the ground floor of the tower “H” has accommodated 

one of Cesargrad’s kitchens, while the excavated part of the hall’s south 

wing “K” is also located on the ground floor. Although only a small part of 

the room “K” has been explored, the type of plaster flooring as well as the 

number and quality of ceramic finds indicate that the room was used for 

economic purposes and not as a representative area. 

Beside the analysis of ceramics and architectural remains, an analysis of 

the remains of animal bones will be carried out to improve our knowledge 

of the Cesargrad inhabitants’ eating culture and its quality at the end of the 

middle ages. 

In the coming years we plan to continue the research and conservation 

which will provide new insights into the past of the Cesargrad castle. 

Krčingrad and Garić-Grad: Two Castles and Their Role in 

the Late Medieval Cultural and Historical Landscape 

This paper will encompass the comparative analysis of Krčingrad and 

Garić-grad, two late-13 th -century castles. Krčingrad (Krčin or Pliš) was 

built on an elongated peninsula between the lakes of Kozjak and Gradina, 

in the very heart of the present-day national park of Plitvička Jezera. It 

would seem that the main determinant in choosing this position was not 

its geostrategic significance but its esthetic quality. According to the historical 

data (which is very scarce for the northern part of late medieval 

region of Lika), it is possible to deduce that this castle was not situated 

near any of the main communication routes, nor was it possible to control 

the surrounding area from its tower(s). However, each point of the castle 

offers a spectacular view of the neighbouring lakes, waterfalls and woods. 

Fulfilling the idea of the aesthetics of nature, a triangular defence tower 

was built in the southern part of Krčingrad. With its rare ground plan, this 

tower of impressive dimensions was, beside having an obvious defensive 


ole, a symbol of power and social status, accentuating with its form the 

owners’ – most probably, these were the powerful counts of Babonić – significance 

in the political sphere of the time. Although the complete ground 

plan of the castle is unknown as yet – the archaeological excavations are 

still in progress –, it is possible to establish two areas. According to the 

stratigraphy of the whole plateau and comparative ground plans of other 

late medieval castles (i.e. Šalek, Košice-Hradova, Boldogkö), it is possible 

to conclude that the northern part had a residential-economic role. It is 

also clear that the southern and northern area have been merged into one 

space with massive defensive walls emphasizing the exclusion of the surrounding 

areas and integration in times of great peril. 

The principle of connecting several parts with different functions by a double 

line of defensive walls and of isolation from the surroundings was also 

used in the design of the castle of Garić (Garić-grad). Situated on the slopes 

of the Moslavina highlands, this castle had pronounced geostrategic qualities. 

It was built with maximum respect and optimal use of the natural 

properties of the location resulting in a castle complex comprising several 

clearly separated parts, each built on a separate plateau. On the central, 

highest plateau the main tower was built. This position offered the possibility 

of monitoring the other two plateaus. The main tower was separated 

by a small, common space (a yard?) from the residential-economic area, 

situated on the slightly lower-lying, southern plateau. To the north, an accentuated 

slope divided it from the substantially lower-lying northern plateau 

that most likely had a military-defensive role. 

Both castles share, beside the mentioned settings, a complete lack of information 

regarding the possible settlement of the outer baileys, as well as 

concerning their interaction with the surrounding villages. 


39

František Gabriel 

Lucie Kursová 

Arkadiusz Koperkiewicz 

Poster Abstracts 

Zusammenfassungen der Poster 

Povzetki plakatov 

Die Pflichten der Untertanen und ihre Möglichkeiten in 

der Burg Helfenburk im 14. Jahrhundert 

Die Burg, wie in der Literatur definiert, verstand das Mittelalter nicht nur als 

einen Bau, sondern gleichzeitig auch als Güter mit Territorium und deren 

Bewohner. Die Bindung zwischen dem Burgbesitzer und den Bewohnern 

auf seinen Gütern bildete eine Reihe von Beziehungen, die unter anderem 

auch die Beziehung zwischen dem Herrn und seinen Untertanen andeutete. 

Im Allgemeinen bieten die Urbare vereinzelte Informationen über dieses 

Segment der damals lebenden Kultur an. Die Urbare erfassen nicht nur 

den Umfang der Burggüter, sondern vor allem die Pflichte der Untertanen 

gegenüber dem Besitzer des Dominia. Unser Beitrag befasst sich mit der 

Analyse von 11 Siedlungen und mit den Pflichten deren Bewohner auf den 

Gütern der Burg Helfenburk (Tschechische Republik, Bezirk Litoměřice, 

Katastralgebiet Rašovice) laut dem Urbar aus den neunziger Jahren des 

14. Jahrhunderts, als die Burg dem Prager Erzbischof angehörte. 

Kleine Schlösser in kleinen Gesellschaften. 

Die archäologischen Ausgrabungen in dem 

Ritterordensschloss Hochenstein 

Das Poster präsentiert die Ergebnisse und Konsequenzen der archäologischen 

Forschungen, die in den Jahren 2006–2010 vom Institut für Archäologie 

der Danziger Universität in Kreuzritterordensschlösser in Olsztynek 

(Hochenstein) und Bezławki (Bäslack) im ehemaligen Ostpreußen durchgeführt 

wurden. 

Diese Objekte gehören zu einer Kategorie der kleinsten Gebäude des 

Kreuzritterordens in Preußen, die bisher kaum erforscht wurden. Trotz 

ihren sich durch die Jahrhunderte verändernden Funktionen bildeten sie 

immer den Kern lokalen Gemeinschaftslebens. 

Aufgrund des Mangels an geschichtlichen Quellen, erlauben ausschließlich 

archäologische Forschungen neue Daten zum Bau und Funktion dieser 

Schlösser zu gewinnen. Durch archäologische Arbeiten wird eine Revitalisierung 

dieser Plätze ermöglicht, als auch eine höhere Anzahl von Touristen 

gewonnen. 


41

Arkadiusz Przybyłok 

Raum der oberschlesischen Burgen. Dienst, Tiere, 

Versorgung 

Die Geschichte von Schlössern und Residenzen in Oberschlesien wird leider 

nicht gut genug untersucht, viel schlechter als die der ähnlichen Objekte 

in den benachbarten Regionen. Der Hauptgrund dafür ist der schlechte 

Zustand der zu untersuchenden Substanz sowie der Archivalien. 

Viele, wenn nicht die Mehrheit der architektonisch relevanten Objekte in 

Oberschlesien sind bis heute leider nicht mehr erhalten geblieben. Trotzdem 

lassen sich drei Hauptbereiche des Schlossraumes unterscheiden: 

Residenz-, Militär- und Wirtschaftsbereich. Der Militär- und der Residenzbereich 

wurden am besten untersucht, weil sie bis heute erhalten geblieben 

sind. Am häufigsten fehlen jedoch die materiellen Überreste des Wirtschaftsbereiches. 

Während der archäologischen Untersuchungen des vermeintlichen Platzes 

des Schlosses in Beuthen/Bytom, O.S. wurden neben den Mauern von 

unbekannten Bauobjekten wahrscheinlich Schlosskeller aus dem 15. Jh. 

gefunden, die an frühere Fundamente angebaut wurden. Die Räume waren 

vermutlich gewölbt und wurden aus lokal auftretendem Dolomit errichtet. 

Archäologische Untersuchungen sowie knappe geschichtliche Quellen lassen 

uns jedoch keine konkreten Wirtschaftsbereiche unterscheiden. Wir 

wissen nur, dass neben einem zweigeschossigen Wohnhaus aus Stein, einem 

Turm und einem Torgebäude noch Holzbauten und ein Brunnen zu 

dem Schloss gehörten. Es lässt sich behaupten, dass mit dem in den Quellen 

erwähnten Begriff blochwerck eben Wirtschaftsgebäude gemeint werden. 

Ende der Blütezeit des Schlosses, im 16. und 18. Jh. wurde das Schloss 

von dem ein paar hundert Meter entfernten Gutshof mit Dienstleistungen 

und Produkten versorgt. 

Interessant an dem Beuthener Schloss ist eine an ihm liegende Metzgerei, 

die 1406 errichtet wurde. Sie ist zwar kein Bestandteil des Schlossbereiches, 

aber das Stadtgericht entschied, dass sie zum festen Element der 

Schlosslandschaft werden sollte. 

Das neuzeitliche Wirtschaftsgebäude ist auf dem Schloss in Tost (Toszek) 

erhalten geblieben. An die nördliche Randmauer der Gründung wurden im 

17. Jh. gewölbte Pferdeställe aus Backstein angebaut. Das lange Gebäude 

wurde drinnen in Tröge geteilt. Das Objekt ist nur dank der Umwandlung 

in eine Orangerie, die im 18. Jh. stattfand, erhalten geblieben. 

Dank der Umwandlung sind auch zwei Wirtschaftsflügel des Ratiborer 

(Racibórz) Schlosses bis heute erhalten geblieben. In den im 16. Jh. an die 

Randmauer angebauten Gebäuden gab es einen Wagenschuppen und eine 

Mälzerei. Die Mälzerei ist in Form einer Schlossbrauerei bis in das 20. Jh. 

erhalten geblieben 

Der allgemeine Erhaltungszustand der Schlösser in Oberschlesien, besonders 

im Vergleich mit benachbarten Niederschlesien, Tschechien und 

Kleinpolen (Małopolska) erlaubt keine weitgehende Analyse des Wirtschaftsbereiches. 

Nur vereinzelte Schriftquellen enthalten Angaben über 

konkrete Personen, Anzahl der gezüchteten Tiere oder Bedarf an Rohstoffe. 

Dieses Informationsbündel gibt uns zwar ein unvollständiges aber immer 

noch interessantes Bild von einfachen Menschen, die Knochenarbeit 

für die Schlosselite leisteten. 


Kari Uotila 

Man kann behaupten, dass sich der Wirtschaftsbereich im Mittelalter innerhalb 

von den Schlossmauern, oft in Form von Holzbauten, befand. In 

der Neuzeit wurden größere Versorgungsbedürfnisse gedeckt von den benachbarten 

Gutshöfen oder neuen größeren Gebäuden, die sich um den 

Schlosshof befanden. 

Using a Mobile-Guide System in Medieval Castles and 

Fortifications 

The LAMB Project has been designed with the aim to develop a mobile 

digital guiding and learning platform. Work started in 2001. The first prototypes 

were tested in 2002–2003 and the development has been carried 

on until 2010–2011. The aim of the project has been to provide the potential 

users with an opportunity to visit cultural (e.g. medieval castles and 

fortifications) and natural heritage sites using a portable electronic device 

as a travel guide. The development of the LAMB (fi. PULU) system has continued 

in cooperation with experts from Muuritutkimus Company, Turku 

University of Applied Sciences, Åbo Akademi University/Uppsala University, 

University of Turku and Municipality of Eura. The project has been 

supported financially by the Finnish National Board of Education. 

The current versions of the client system have been built using Java Standard 

Edition. This platform was chosen because it is well established and 

available on most platforms including smart phones. Due to portability 

requirements, the platform uses a minimal device specific interface for accessing 

GPS data. At the moment, the system is running on mini tablet PC 

and mini-laptop devices. These provide usable screen size, workable interaction 

and performance for an affordable price. 

The LAMB/PULU platform has proven to be a versatile framework for 

designing and realizing sightseeing and learning sessions with a specific 

focus on tourists’, students’ and researchers’ experience and engagement 

with their environment and its various human dimensions. The variety of 

functionalities in the client provides the means to develop rich interaction 

with cultural heritage sites both for individual tourists and groups. 

The poster will focus on some examples of Finnish castles and mobiletouring 

in them. 


43



Fieldtrip guides 


Vodnik po ekskurzijah 

Štajerska 

Podvrh near Braslovče 

Grad Žovnek / Saneck or Sannegg Castle 

In about 1125, a person named Gebhard de Soune appears in written documents. 

His name was derived from the river Savinja after which the entire 

county had been named for a while. Similarly, the name of Sounheck (Saneck) 

derives from the Savinja. This latter name has been used from the 

1170s onwards by members of a family of free lords from the Savinja Region, 

signifying their family residence. Whether the lords of Saneck were 

of local descent and were related to Gebhard de Soune or they perhaps 

stemmed from the Bavarian family of the counts of Neuburg-Falkenstein, 

remains unclear. In any case, by 1139 at the latest, the family resided in the 

Lower Savinja Valley. The construction of Saneck Castle can be surmised at 

about the same time. The castle itself was first mentioned directly in 1278. 

Its position was related to the nearby road connecting Styria with Carniola 

via Črnivec mountain pass. 

The lords of Saneck were held in great esteem among the nobility in the 

wider region. They resided mostly in their castle at Lemberg/Lengenberg 

near Poljčane, while Saneck was managed by several knights who co-resided 

there. In the early 14 th century, the lords of Saneck sided with Friedrich 

Duke of Austria against Heinrich Duke of Carinthia. In 1308, Ulrich 

Žovnek / Saneck Castle, general ground-plan (after Stopar 1992, 160). 


45

of Saneck handed over several castles to the Habsburgs, among them Saneck, 

only to receive them back again as fiefdoms. In return, the Habsburgs 

entrusted the lords of Saneck with the administration of all of their towns 

and castles in the Savinja Valley which they had acquired in the above 

mentioned conflict. In 1322, the Sanecks inherited vast estates around 

Celje from the Counts of Heunburg (Vovbrški). Presumably in 1333, they 

moved their residence to Celje and even changed their name as they were 

raised to the rank of counts in 1339/1341: the Counts of Cilli (Celjski). 

Since then, Saneck Castle has been managed by various castellans. In 1423 

it once more became a freehold. Following the death of the last Count of 

Cilli, Saneck came into possession of the Habsburgs. It was then managed 

by several tenants until it was sold to Adam Schrott in the late 16 th century. 

From then on, it has changed owners continually. Since the early 19 th century 

when its owner Jožef Čokl of Ruhethal built a new mansion nearby, 

Saneck Castle has been decaying rapidly. Only recently, amateur incentive 

has led to partial conservation and restoration of the ruins. 

The castle complex consists of the inner castle core and two baileys separated 

by a series of deep ditches. In the 12 th century, the castle had the layout 

of an irregular polygonal enclosure but the remains of original buildings 

inside it are no longer discernible. In the southwestern corner, a massive 

round tower has been erected. Its walls have a thickness of ca. 2.70 

m. Traces of vaulting on the second floor attest to the existence of a castle 

chapel inside this tower. A water cistern was arranged in the courtyard. 

Some water pipes are reported to have been uncovered bringing water to 

the castle from an unidentified water source northwest of the complex. 

The outer line of defensive walls with towers was also added in the late 

medieval period. In the Renaissance phase, the inner courtyard was surrounded 

by several arcaded buildings along the inner perimeter wall. 

Further reading: 

KOS, Dušan 2005, Vitez in grad: vloga gradov v življenju plemstva na Kranjskem, slovenskem 

Štajerskem in slovenskem Koroškem do začetka 15. stoletja. – Ljubljana, pp. 408–410. (German 

edition: In Burg und Stadt: spätmittelalterlicher Adel in Krain und Untersteiermark, 

Wien, 2006.) 

KRALJ, Franc 2000, Žovnek in Žovneški. – Braslovče. 

STOPAR, Ivan 1992, Grajske stavbe v vzhodni Sloveniji 3: Spodnja Savinjska dolina. – Ljubljana, 

pp. 160–165. 

Celje 

The area at the confluence of the rivers of Savinja and Voglajna has been 

settled since prehistoric times. The modern name of Celje derives from the 

Celtic settlement of Keleia and the Roman Municipium Claudium Celeia 

(since AD 41–54). The Roman town had a regular urban structure and was 

surrounded by walls with towers. By the 4 th century, a Christian bishopric 

had been established here and several early Christian churches have been 

excavated inside the town walls, as well as on the hill of Miklavški Hrib just 

to the south of the town. In the 5 th and 6 th centuries, Celeia was in decline. 

The site once more gained strategic importance after 970 as the centre of 

the Askvinian dynastic estates and later the administrative centre of the 

County of Savinja (Souna) which they ruled. 


Still, the urban development of medieval Celje was rather slow and gradual. 

It was only with the political rise of the Counts of Cilli in the early 15 th 

century that the centre of their estates prospered economically. In 1451, 

Count Frederick II of Cilli finally granted it the legal status of a town. 

The Church of St. Daniel 

The main church of Celje, once the seat of a parish and since 2006 the cathedral 

of the bishopric of Celje, existed by at least 1229 when its parish 

priest was mentioned. The present building, a three-aisled basilica with 

flat wooden ceilings was consecrated in 1306. After 1379, during the long 

and politically successful rule of Count Hermann I of Cilli, the church was 

refurbished. The nave received a ribbed vaulting; the belfry and a new, 

long choir were also built at that time. The vaulted choir was painted with 

frescoes in the early 15 th century. The composition of the Journey and Adoration 

of the Magi depicted on the northern choir wall is particularly notable. 

In the early 15 th century, the chapel of St. Mary was constructed to the 

north of the choir. It was originally dedicated to the Three Kings – a typical 

knightly dedication – and was probably consecrated in 1413. The walls inside 

the chapel carry sculpted consoles and baldachins with crockets and 

finials. Thirteen of twenty consoles are still preserved and they are decorated 

with several motifs from Physiologus (the Siren, Onocentaurus, Lion, 

Pelican, Ostrich, and Scylla, or probably Serra), a mask, a human face, St. 

John the Evangelist, a monk and an extremely rare depiction of the »Woman 

of Seven Deadly Sins« (Siebenlasterweib). The motifs were explained by 

inscriptions on stone slabs placed beneath them. Stylistic differences suggest 

a possible earlier date for the execution of the consoles (ca. 1380). 

St. Mary's Chapel also houses a fine painted stone sculpture of Pietà dated 

to 1410–1415. The vaulted ceiling is decorated with the motif of the Thronus 

Pietatis, surrounded by angels carrying the Arma Christi, the Evangelists, 

and the four Church Fathers. These frescoes were probably painted 

around 1415. Above the entrance to the chapel in the north aisle of the 

church there is another, badly-preserved fresco from around 1520–1530 

depicting the Hortus Conclusus motif. 

Commissioned by the Counts of Cilli, St. Mary's Chapel is the only example 

on Slovenian territory of a private chapel built by a noble ruling family as a 

sign of their devotion but also as a symbol of their earthly power and prestige. 

This chapel certainly was one the crucial milestones in the shaping 

of the Counts' identity and self-representation even as they were aspiring 

to a princely status, building their own independent dominion within the 

Holy Roman Empire through dynastic alliance with the ruling families of 

the time. 

In the 16 th century, the side aisles of the church were raised to the level of 

the nave and vaulted. Two chapels were later added on the northern side. 

The main altar of St. Daniel was made by a Venetian master in 1743 and 

the side altar of St. Francis by Ferdinand Gallo in 1769. In the mid-19 th century, 

the church was re-Gothicized and restoration with further changes to 

the interior followed in the mid-20 th century. 


47


FUGGER GERMADNIK, Rolanda 2007, Opatija sv. Danijela, preroka v Celju. – V: PIRKMAJER, 

Darija (ed.), Od škofije --- do škofije: opredmetena cerkvena dediščina celjske škofije, Celje, 

pp. 153–155. 

HÖFLER, Janez 2004, Srednjeveške freske v Sloveniji 4: Vzhodna Slovenija. – Ljubljana, pp. 

86–92. 

KREVELJ, Ana 2011, Nove ugotovitve o ikonografiji figuralnih konzol v kapeli Žalostne 

Matere božje v Celju. – Bilten SUZD 12–13. – http://www.suzd.si/bilten/bilten-suzd-12- 

13-2011/raziskave/307-ana-krevelj-nove-ugotovitve-o-ikonografiji-figuralnih-konzol-vkapeli-alostne-matere-boje-v-celju 

(visited last on September 15th 2011) 

STOPAR, Ivan 1971, Opatijska cerkev v Celju: načela restavracije in umetnostnozgodovinski 

rezultati obnovitvenih del v letih 1963 do 1969. – Celje. 

ŠTEFANAC, Samo 1995, Celje, opatijska c. sv. Danijela. – V: HÖFLER, Janez (ed.), Gotika v 

Sloveniji, Ljubljana, pp. 53–54. 

ŠTEFANAC, Samo 1995, Celje, opatijska c. sv. Danijela: kapela Žalostne Matere božje. – V: 

HÖFLER, Janez (ed.), Gotika v Sloveniji, Ljubljana, p. 63–64. 

Knežji Dvorec / the Prince’s Mansion 

The princely mansion (Fürstenhof) where the counts of Cilli held their 

court stood in the southwestern corner of the medieval (market) town of 

Celje. It had developed from a simple tower-like structure (mentioned in 

1323) only to become the largest and most prestigious medieval urban 

palace on the territory of Slovenia. It was raided in 1457 by the army of 

Jan Vitovec, one of the key figures in the wars over the Cilli inheritance. As 

property of provincial rules, the Habsburgs, it was then used for administrative 

purposes. By the mid-16 th century, it was in dire need of repair. The 

work was completed by 1579. The most radical alterations to the complex 

were carried out in the years 1748–1750 when it was transformed into 

military barracks based on an order by the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa. 

The complex was severely damaged in the fire of 1798. Consequently, 

in 1803 the curtain wall was pulled down and the defensive ditch filled 

in. The towers were lowered and some buildings were raised so that the 

whole complex could be united under one roof. The military has been stationed 

here until the early 1980s. Research and conservation work started 

in the early 1990s. 

Archaeological excavations carried out by the Celje Institute for Protection 

of Cultural Heritage in 1992–1996 revealed the well-preserved remains 

of Roman Celeia underneath the complex. The main decumanus with two 

residential complexes (villa urbana) on both sides was uncovered. The Roman 

architecture and infrastructure date from the 1 st to the 3 rd centuries 

AD. Furthermore, substantial remains of the 4 th -century town wall with a 

gate comprising two square towers were also found. 

The medieval mansion has developed from a tower-like structure (a hall?) 

standing in the western part of an enclosed courtyard. A defensive moat 

running along the outer perimeter on the northern, eastern and southern 

side was probably cut out at the very beginning. A smaller tower was 

then added to the south of the hall and later also the entrance tower in the 

southeastern corner of the yard. Another defensive tower was added in 

the northwestern corner of the complex and an entrance hall was added 

to the main building on its eastern side. Subsequently, the buildings along 

the western and southern line of the curtain wall were connected into a 

compact range. On the northern side, a large tower was added standing 


on a 7 m wide arch spanning the moat. This tower probably contained living 

quarters. Its upper floors were accessible from the south by an outer 

spiral staircase. The main hall contained two or possibly one two-storeyed 

representative halls, as attested by two rows of Gothic windows which are 

still partly preserved in the western wall of the building. The hall building 

was subsequently connected with the northwestern tower and a new gate 

tower was built to the east of the residential tower, thus opening the complex 

to the north while the old southeastern entrance gate had been transformed 

and possibly closed up. Later on, the old moat was filled in and 

a new line of defensive walls erected along the outer bank of the former 

moat. A new entrance gate was arranged in the north. Another building 

was built opposite the hall in the southern part of the courtyard. Radical 

transformation followed when the complex was rearranged for military 

purposes in the mid-18 th century. 





Wien, 2006.) 

KREMPUŠ, Robert 2001, Arheološke raziskave Knežjega dvora v Celju = Archäologische 

Forschungen im Fürstenhof in Celje. – In: GUŠTIN, Mitja (ed.), Srednjeveško Celje = Medieval 

Celje, Ljubljana, pp. 25–38. 


pp. 24–28. 

STOPAR, Ivan 1998, Knežji dvorec v Celju: analiza historičnih virov. – Varstvo spomenikov 

38, pp. 98-122. 

Knežji Dvorec / the Prince's Mansion in Celje, situation in the early 15 th century 

(after Stopar 1992, 25). 


49

Stari Grad / Upper Cilli Castle 

The upper castle of Celje / Cilli (hist. Ober Cilli) is perched on a narrow 

promontory overlooking the confluence of the Savinja and Voglajna Rivers. 

Whether the Askvinians, the 11 th -century rulers of the county of Savinja 

(Souna) have built a fortification on the site of Upper Cilli or not, remains 

unclear. Around 1130, Count Günther from the line of the counts of Heunburg 

(Vovbrški) acted as Margrave of Savinja and he even named himself 

occasionally the “Margrave of Celje”. The Savinja margraviate was soon 

abolished and the freehold of Celje fell into the hands of the Heunburg family. 

These have managed their estates around Celje with the help of their 

serf-knights and castellans residing at Upper Cilli Castle. The first known 

direct reference to the castle dates from the year 1323. 

In 1322, the last of the Heunburgs died and the lords of Saneck inherited 

their estates around Celje. After a decade of fighting for the Heunburg inheritance, 

the Sanecks finally took hold of Celje in 1333. In 1339/1341, they 

acquired the status of counts and duly changed their name to the Counts of 

Cilli (Celjski). The counts built a princely mansion (Knežji dvorec, Fürstenhof) 

inside their market town of Celje, whilst the Upper Cilli Castle served 

as a military stronghold and was managed by castellans. 

With the extinction of the Cilli dynasty in 1456, Upper Cilli became the 

property of provincial rulers. Several castellans and custodians have been 

appointed by the Habsburgs to maintain the fortress. In 1515, it was occupied 

for a short while by rebellious peasants. The dilapidated complex was 

thoroughly restored in 1566–1579. In 1748–1750, Upper Cilli Castle was 

dismantled to provide the necessary building material for the construction 

of the military barracks inside the former princely mansion in the town of 

Celje and later also for other buildings. Conservation and restoration of the 

ruins started in the late 19 th century and are still underway. At its largest, 

Upper Cilli Castle has covered an area of over 7.000 m 2 which makes it by 

far the largest castle complex on the territory of Slovenia. 

In 1972–1983 and 1986, archaeological excavations were carried out by 

the Ljubljana Faculty of Arts’ Department of Archaeology. The entire castle 

core and parts of the outer baileys were excavated. The excavators maintained 

that traces of an early medieval fortified settlement were uncovered 

underneath the later Gothic hall building, yet this interpretation remains 

questionable, since the supposed earthen rampart and wooden constructions 

might easily be ascribed to the earliest phase of the castle and the 

construction of the protective “shield” wall on this location. The revision 

of small finds from this area has also failed to confirm the presence of 10 th – 

11 th -century pottery. The earliest artefacts from this assemblage are now 

reliably dated to the 12 th and early 13 th century. 

The most plausible interpretation of the development of the castle complex 

– based both on the results of archaeological excavations and the 

structural analysis of standing remains – might be summarised as follows: 

In the late 12 th or early 13 th century, an irregular pentagonal area at the 

end of the promontory was enclosed by a curtain wall. In the far northeastern 

corner of the enclosure, a rectangular hall was probably built of which 

no traces remain. The southwestern front of the enclosure on the access 

side exposed to attack was provided with a shielding, thicker and higher 

defensive wall carrying a wooden gallery. The entrance to the inner yard 


was leading through a simple gate on the ground floor level. West of the 

gate, an outbuilding with two rooms was erected. A filtering cistern was 

constructed in the southern part of the castle courtyard. Around 1300, the 

old core was surrounded by an outer line of defensive walls. At its northern 

end, a tower was erected. The position and arrangement of the outer 

gate leading through the outer curtain wall remains uncertain. In the first 

half of the 14 th century, probably when the lords of Saneck came into possession 

of Upper Cilli, the castle was transformed into a more comfortable 

residential complex. Against the old shield-wall in the eastern end of the 

inner yard, a new, larger hall building was erected in Gothic style. On the 

ground floor, a smoking chamber was arranged for the processing of meat. 

On the plateau east of the castle, an isolated tower (propugnaculum; later 

called the Frederick’s Tower) was built controlling the access route leading 

to the castle core. Somewhat later, probably in the mid-14 th century, the 

old hall was replaced by a new one in Gothic style. It had an outer staircase 

tower attached to its eastern front. In order to construct the new western 

hall, the outbuilding next to the main gate had to be demolished. Around 

1400, a new line of crenellated walls complete with two defensive wall 

towers and a gate (keep) was erected to the east of the castle core enclosing 

the Frederick’s Tower into a large elongated bailey. The outer keep 

Stari Grad Celje / Upper Cilli Castle, situation ca. 1500 (after Stopar 1992, 

20). 


51

stood north of the Frederick’s Tower. In the early 15 th century, a second 

bailey was added on the eastern side. The entrances through the individual 

lines of walls were secured with the erection of four gate towers. Now the 

entrance to the inner bailey was moved from the northeast to the southeasthern 

corner. A massive ditch separating the castle core from the inner 

bailey was dug out making use of a natural cut in the bedrock. In the 

late 15 th century, the outer perimeter of the castle core was lowered and 

two semicircular bastions were added to it. Another tower (the so-called 

Andrew’s Tower) was added on the southern side of the castle core. It is 

supposed to have housed a chapel dedicated to St. Andrew. On the northern 

side next to the ditch, the so-called Pelikan’s Tower was also erected 

in the early 16 th century. The baileys received an additional line of walls 

on the southern side, adapted to the use of firearms. Inside the inner bailey, 

the foundations of stables were excavated in the northwestern corner 

and a forge next to the southern tower, both dated to this period. From 

1566 until 1579, extensive repairs took place at the castle. Its battlements 

were repaired and provided with artillery bastions. Inside the castle core, 

the buildings were linked into a unified architectural ensemble with three 

ranges of arcaded balconies giving the castle a then fashionable look of a 

Renaissance fortress-residence. 


BREGANT, Tatjana 1974, Raziskovanja na Starem gradu Celje 1972. leta. – In: Celjski zbornik 

1973–1974, pp. 269–307. 

BREGANT, Tatjana 1977, Stari grad nad Celjem. Raziskovanja v letih 1973 in 1974. Poizkus 

rekonstrukcije rasti grajskega jedra. – Ljubljana. 

BREGANT, Tatjana 1983, Prispevek arheoloških raziskovanj k proučevanju stavbnega razvoja 

starega gradu Celje. – Varstvo spomenikov 25, pp. 39–52. 

BREGANT, Tatjana 1984, Pečnice s Starega gradu Celje. – Ljubljana and Celje. (Reprinted 

in: GUŠTIN, Mitja and Katarina PREDOVNIK (eds.) 1997, Drobci nekega vsakdana = Bruchstücke 

eines Alltags, Ljubljana, pp. 29–38.) 

BRIŠNIK, Danijela 1999, Stari grad nad Celjem. Keramično gradivo iz sektorjev A in B. – In: 

FUGGER GERMADNIK, Rolanda (ed.), Zbornik mednarodnega simpozija Celjski grofje, stara 

tema – nova spoznanja, Celje, 27. – 29. maj 1998, Celje, pp. 261 – 273. 

CURK, Jože 1987, Celjski Stari grad, posebno v 16. stoletju. – Časopis za zgodovino in narodopisje 

23/1, pp. 107–117 




Wien, 2006.) 

KRAMBERGER, Dušan 1987, Ščitni plašč na starem gradu Celje. – Varstvo spomenikov 29, 

pp. 49–54. 

KRAMBERGER, Dušan 1999, Srednjeveški grad nad Celjem – notranji obrambni jarek. – In: 

FUGGER GERMADNIK, Rolanda (ed.), Zbornik mednarodnega simpozija Celjski grofje, stara 

tema – nova spoznanja, Celje, 27. – 29. maj 1998, Celje, pp. 239–247. 

KRAMBERGER, Dušan and Ivan STOPAR 1987, Program sanacije in prezentacije gradu Celje. 

– In: Celjski zbornik 1987, pp. 85–94. (Reprinted in: GUŠTIN, Mitja and Katarina PREDOVNIK 

(eds.) 1997, Drobci nekega vsakdana = Bruchstücke eines Alltags, Ljubljana, pp. 9–28.) 

STOPAR, Ivan 1982, K problemu cisterne na gradu Celje. – Varstvo spomenikov 24, pp. 5–15. 


pp. 14–23. 

STOPAR, Ivan 2000, Stari grad Celje med včeraj, danes in jutri. – Celje. 


Gorenjska 

Kamnik 

Mali Grad / (Lower) Stein Castle 

Following the victory of German king Otto I the Great over the Hungarians 

at Lechfeld in 955, Carniola, one of the previously semi-autonomous Slav 

regions at the southern borders of the Frankish – and later, German – Empire 

was turned into a margraviate sometime around the year 1000. The 

territory was divided up into great estates which the crown then handed 

over to their loyal clientele among the Bavarian aristocracy and to several 

church institutions, such as the bishopric of Freising or the archbishopric 

of Salzburg. Next to the early medieval centre at Kranj, Kamnik/Stein 

seems to have become one of the central sites in the country as early as the 

10 th century, but certainly by the early 12 th century when it was chosen to 

be the seat of the mighty Counts of Andechs. These came into possession 

of margrave’s estates in Carniola around 1100 through the inheritance of 

the former Carniolan Margrave’s daughter Sophia of Weimar-Orlamünde 

who had married Count Berthold II of Andechs. Immediately, this line of 

the House of Andechs began to invest in their political position in Carniola, 

forging alliances and acquiring new estates. In the 12 th century, Mali Grad 

was managed by several serf-knights of the Andechses. In 1202, both cas- 

Mali Grad / (Lower) Stein Castle in Kamnik, composite plan (after Štular 

2009, 59). 


53

tles of Stein were first directly mentioned in the written sources. The Andechs 

dynasty reached its peak in the early 13 th century with Heinrich IV 

who held the titles of the Margrave of Istria and the Duke of Merania. Heinrich 

was the most powerful lord in Carniola and practically ruled it, even 

though the title of Carniolan Margraves was officially held by the Patriarchs 

of Aquileia. In 1228 Heinrich IV of Andechs died with no male offspring. 

This opened the way for the rise to power of another feudal dynasty, the 

Carinthian Dukes of Spanheim who also had vast territorial possessions in 

Carniola. With this turn, Kamnik lost its political importance. Instead, the 

Spanheim centre of Ljubljana started to prosper and gradually became the 

capital city of Carniola. 

The importance of Kamnik in the 12 th and 13 th centuries is aptly illustrated 

by the existence of two medieval castles belonging to the dominion. They 

both carried the name of Kamnik/Stein and it is often impossible to attribute 

the information from medieval documents to either one or the other 

with any certainty. But there are some documents referring specifically 

to the upper (nowadays named Stari Grad) or lower (nowadays named 

Mali Grad) castle of Stein. Archaeological excavations carried out at the 

site of the lower castle (1974–1995, with intermissions) attest to its early 

construction and previous importance of the location, whereas the poor 

state of preservation and lack of research prevent reliable dating of the 

upper castle. 

The lower castle of Stein stands on a cliff above a small gorge cut through 

the rock by the Kamniška Bistrica River. The upper castle was built on the 

peak of the mountain just opposite, across the river. Here, the Tuhinjska 

Valley leading from the heart of the Savinja Alps towards west opens onto 

the Kamnik Plain. The Tuhinjska Dolina Valley offers access to the Lower 

Savinja Valley over the mountain pass at Špitalič and this has indeed been 

the main trade route connecting the regions of Spodnja Štajerska/Untersteiermark 

and Kranjska/Carniola up until the 17 th century when the ancient 

Roman route via Trojane Pass was reopened. 

At the site of Mali Grad some Copper age pottery was found but no prehistoric 

structures. 27 early medieval burials containing rare grave goods 

dated to the 10 th and early 11 th centuries were excavated directly underneath 

the medieval castle core. Some finds attest to the presence of high 

status individuals indicating that Kamnik was a central place already prior 

to the arrival of the Counts of Andechs. 

In the second quarter of the 12 th century, the first stone castle was built. 

An irregular polygonal wall enclosed the easternmost part of the plateau. 

The access side of the wall was thicker and probably higher than the others 

forming a protective shield-wall. At the far end of the enclosed yard a 

narrow hall was erected and in the southwestern corner underneath the 

still standing chapel yet another building, possibly an earlier chapel from 

which only the tympanum bearing the relief of Agnus Dei is preserved, 

now placed above the main entrance of the later chapel. 

Around 1200, the castle was rebuilt completely. Inside the castle core, a 

new hall with at least two storeys was erected lying at a right angle to the 

old one. On the ground floor there was a kitchen and storage rooms. On the 

first floor, grain supplies were stored. Several heaps of charred wheat, barley, 

oats, millet and horse bean were found lying on a thin layer of charcoal 

representing the burnt wooden storey construction. The hall burnt down 

in the late 13 th century. Further changes in the early 13 th century included 


the erection of a new two-storeyed chapel with a crypt and an outer bailey. 

At the easternmost corner of the bailey, next to the outer castle gate, a massive 

square tower (a keep) was erected, possibly a propugnaculum at first 

and only enclosed by the curtain wall at a later date. The separate entrance 

to the upper storey of the chapel and some other traces in the masonry 

suggest that a third residential hall existed to the west of the chapel. 

The archaeological evidence suggests that the old castle core was abandoned 

after the fire in the late 13 th century. But life at Mali Grad must have 

continued for more than a century, as attested by the written sources. The 

castle belonged to the provincial rulers and was managed by castellans, 

even two or more at a time. By 1444, Mali Grad had been deserted. In the 

late 15 th and 16 th centuries, a small burghers’ fort was erected on the ruins 

of the former western keep but even that did not survive for long. Since the 

late 17 th century, the castle chapel remains the only completely preserved 

building of the former castle complex. 





Wien, 2006.) 

SAGADIN, Milan 1996, Prazgodovinske najdbe z Malega gradu v Kamniku. – Kamniški 

zbornik 13, pp. 110–115. 

SAGADIN, Milan 1997a, Mali grad v Kamniku. – Varstvo spomenikov 37, pp. 105–121. 

SAGADIN, Milan 1997b, Mali grad v Kamniku. – Kulturni in naravni spomeniki Slovenije, 

Zbirka vodnikov 191. – Ljubljana. 

SAGADIN, Milan 2001, Staroslovansko grobišče na Malem gradu v Kamniku. – Arheološki 

vestnik 52, pp. 359–375. 

STOPAR, Ivan 1997, Grajske stavbe v osrednji Sloveniji I: Gorenjska. Vol. 2: Območje Kamnika 

in Kamniške Bistrice. – Ljubljana, pp. 65–73. 

ŠTULAR, Benjamin 2009, Mali grad: visokosrednjeveški grad v Kamniku = Mali Grad: High 

Medieval Castle in Kamnik. – Ljubljana. 

Begunje 

Grad Kamen / Stein Castle 

In the early 12 th century, the dominion of Kamen/Stein in Upper Carniola 

(germ. Oberkrain), once owned by the Margraves of Carniola, the Counts of 

Weimar-Orlamünde, was inherited by the Count Adalbert I of Ortenburg. 

The earliest known written reference to the castle of Stein itself dates back 

to the year 1263 (castrum Lapis). The castle was then managed by four 

castellans who all lived there and were serf-knights (lat. ministeriales) of 

the Counts of Ortenburg. In the late 14 th century the status of Stein Castle 

seems to have changed; its castellans then possessed their own castles and 

only acted as employees of the Ortenburg family. In 1418, following the 

death of the last of the Ortenburgs, the Counts of Cilli came in possession of 

Stein Castle. Count Hermann III of Cilli who had lived in nearby Radovljica/ 

Radmanssdorf for a while managing the family's estates in Upper Carniola, 

died here in 1428 in a fatal riding accident. Upon the death of Count Ulrich 

II of Cilli in 1456, the Habsburgs inherited the Cilli possessions. Stein 

Castle was managed by several families, and in 1476 Emperor Friedrich III 

granted the Stein dominion as fiefdom to the Lamberg family. These have 


55

owned it for centuries. In 1553, Stein Castle underwent a substantial renovation 

but gradually the Lambergs left it over to decay as they moved to 

their newly built manor of Kacenštajn/Katzenstein in the nearby village 

of Begunje. Stein Castle had been completely abandoned by the mid-18 th 

century when its masonry was used for the construction of the new parish 

church in Begunje and for repairs at Katzenstein. 

Stein Castle stands on a steep rocky promontory closing off the valley of 

the Draga rivulet. An ancient road, once a mere pack animal trail, passes 

just underneath the castle, leading from Bohinj and the Upper Sava Valley 

towards Tržič and thence over the mountains via Ljubelj/Loibl Pass to 

Carinthia. In the medieval and early-modern periods it was particularly 

important for trade in raw and forged iron. 

The oldest building inside the castle core is the old hall standing in the 

southeastern corner of the promontory where it is naturally protected 

by cliffs on three sides. The only possible access to the hall was from the 

northwest where it was controlled by a ditch cut into the bedrock. In the 

cellar and on the upper floors traces of wooden ceilings and wall panelling 

are preserved. The hall was probably first built in the 12 th century but was 

raised and changed substantially afterwards. 

Around 1200, an exposed tower (propugnaculum) was added on the 

northwestern side of the castle complex, securing it against possible attack 

from the uprising slopes. This tower is now integrated into the castle 

core with a later, Renaissance hall standing at its foot. Originally, the tower 

Kamen/Stein Castle near Begunje, composite plan (after Stopar 1996, 79). 


probably had one or two additional storeys, a crenellated parapet and a 

wooden defensive gallery. In the 16 th century the tower was lowered and 

Renaissance-style machicolations were added. 

The Renaissance hall was built around 1550. It contained several rooms, 

some of them heated, and a chapel dedicated to St. Valentine. Its outer front 

was embellished with arcades. 

Several late-medieval and particularly 16 th -century buildings inside and 

outside the inner ward, a newly arranged access route with a drawbridge 

and a lower bailey complete the castle complex. At the foot of the cliff on 

the southwestern side, a terraced park with a pond was arranged next to 

the Renaissance outer gate, probably in the 17 th century when some of the 

outbuildings in the bailey were also constructed. 

The conservation and partial restoration work on the ruin started in 1959 

and was mainly completed by the mid-1970s. 


ADAM, Stane 2000, Grad Kamen in njegovi prebivalci do konca Ortenburžanov. – Radovljica. 

FISTER, Peter 1975, Grad Kamen pri Begunjah na Gorenjskem. – Varstvo spomenikov 17– 

19/2, 1972–1974, pp. 5–32. 

FISTER, Peter 1977, Grad Kamen pri Begunjah. – Ljubljana. 




Wien, 2006.) 

SMOLE, Majda 1982, Graščine na nekdanjem Kranjskem. – Ljubljana, pp. 209. 

STOPAR, Ivan 1996, Grajske stavbe v osrednji Sloveniji I: Gorenjska. Vol. 1: Ob zgornjem toku 

Save. – Ljubljana, pp. 79–89. 

Jama / De Antro or Lueg Fortified Refuge 

This fortification consisted of a natural cave in a rock wall, closed-off by a 

stone front wall. A small window ensured safe observation of the underlying 

grounds. It was accessible only with the help of a ladder and was clearly 

not inhabited permanently but served as a secure and hidden outlook and 

possible temporary refuge in times of danger. 

The refuge was first mentioned in 1185 (de Antro). In 1263, when the Ortenburg 

brothers Friedrich and Heinrich agreed upon a division of their 

family estates amongst themselves, this refuge was mentioned specifically 

among the Carniolan estates that were assigned to Heinrich, together with 

the nearby Stein Castle to which it probably belonged (Carniole antrum 

et castrum Lapis cum quattuor castellanis). In the mid-14 th century it was 

refered to as the fortress of Lueg. It was probably abbandoned by the end 

of the 15 th century. 



Štajerskem in slovenskem Koroškem do začetka 15. stoletja. – Ljubljana, pp. 143. (German 

edition: In Burg und Stadt: spätmittelalterlicher Adel in Krain und Untersteiermark, Wien, 

2006.) 


Save. – Ljubljana, p. 63. 


57

Zgornja Lipnica near Radovljica 

Pusti Grad / Waldenberg Castle 

The ruins of Waldenberg Castle (also named Waldenburg or Wallenberg, 

nowadays Pusti Grad) are stretched along a narrow ridge separating the 

river valleys of Sava and Lipnica. The castle was probably built in the late 

12 th century by the Carinthian line of the Counts of Ortenburg who had 

managed to acquire large parts of the former Margrave’s lands in Carniola 

by 1185. The Ortenburg family ruled its estates in the Upper Sava Valley 

from two administrative seats built on both banks of the river Sava – the 

castles of Kamen/Stein to the north and Pusti Grad/Waldenberg to the 

south of the river. Waldenberg Castle was erected on a steep ridge offering 

a dominant view of the surroundings from a naturally protected location. 

The site was chosen carefully, next to a bridge on the Sava and just above 

the road that runs from the town of Radovljica/Radmannsdorf along the 

Lipnica Valley towards the medieval town of Škofja Loka/Bischoflack and 

over the Jelovica mountain plateau, rich in iron ore, towards Železniki. The 

iron ore mining, smelting and forging were particularly important economic 

activities developed by the Counts of Ortenburg at least since the 

14 th century and the tradition continues to this day with the ironworks 

at Jesenice. Nearby, Radovljica was established by the Ortenburgs as the 

urban centre of their estates. 

In 1263, Waldenberg first appears in written sources in an agreement 

signed by the Ortenburg brothers Friedrich and Heinrich to divide the family 

estates between themselves. The dominion of Waldenberg Castle was 

to be owned by Friedrich, whereas that of Stein Castle on the other bank 

of the Sava was assigned to Heinrich. The Ortenburg estate was reunited 

in the early 14 th century. Indirectly, the castle was first mentioned in 1228 

already. Then and until the late 14 th century, it was managed by the Lords 

of Waldenberg who were serf-knights of the Counts of Ortenburg and lived 

in the castle itself as their castellans. At times, two or even three castellans, 

all members of the Waldenberg family, lived in the castle together and 

this situation clearly explains the symmetrical design of the castle complex 

comprising two halls. 

In the late 14 th and early 15 th centuries, the position of castellans at Waldenberg 

was held by several members of the lower-ranking nobility as a 

temporary office. In 1418 (1420), Waldenberg came in the possession of 

the Counts of Cilli who had inherited the Ortenburg estates. The Counts 

of Cilli then managed Waldenberg in a similar way, employing several 

castellans for shorter periods of time. Managing the dominions of Radovljica/Radmannsdorf 

and Spittal an der Drau, Counts Hermann III and his 

brother Friedrich II of Cilli resided in Radovljica for a while. Apparently 

they built a town palace and chose not to reside in Waldenberg. 

In 1456 the last Count of Cilli died and the dominions of Waldenberg and 

Radovljica/Radmannsdorf fell into the hands of the House of Habsburg. 

Waldenberg was then leased out to tenants acting as keepers for the 

Habsburgs. In 1616, Count Johann Ambrosius von Thurn bought and united 

the dominions of Waldenberg and Radovljica/Radmannsdorf. Waldenberg 

Castle was then probably abandoned to decay. Certainly it had been abandoned 

prior to the 1680s when the Carniolan erudite Johann Weichard von 

Valvasor depicted it as a ruin. 


The castle complex measures some 90 × 45 m and comprises the inner ward 

with two halls and a concentric or rather, spiralling series of outer baileys. 

On both sides, the ridge is cut through by a transverse ditch preventing 

easy and direct access. Possibly there were some additional fortifications 

arranged on the outer sides of these ditches but no traces are visible on the 

surface. The castle core displays a symmetrical layout of an elongated, 35 

m long and 10 m wide hexagon. Its pointed opposite ends are formed by 

two pentagonal tower-like hall buildings separated by a central courtyard. 

This compact architectural ensemble was probably created already in the 

late 12 th century but its poor state of preservation and lack of research do 

not allow for a closer assessment of any later structural changes. 

In the south, the base of the perimeter wall was reinforced with a socle 

ending abruptly at the probable location of the gate leading to the inner 

courtyard. Surrounding the core area at a distance of about 2.5 m is an outer 

curtain wall, probably built in the 14 th century. This narrow concentric 

belt was separated into several segments by transverse walls and at least 

two buildings, one on the northern side and the other in the southeast, 

next to the presumed inner gate. In this area, archaeological excavations 

were carried out by Gorenjski Muzej Kranj (the Museum of Gorenjska) in 

1993, following an earlier unauthorised dig by an amateur. The excavated 

buildings consist of at least three rooms. Their purpose and possible 

reconstruction remain tentative and open to interpretation. The narrow 

western room (A) was 8.45 m long and 1.88 m wide but it remains unclear 

whether it was covered with a roof or not. Two walking levels were observed, 

the later consisting of mortar flooring. 

To the south of Room A lies the so-called Room B measuring 4.70 × 2.05 on 

the inside. It has massive, up to 1.80 m thick walls which still rise over 4 m 

high. The cellar and lower part of the first floor of this structure are preserved 

together with the remains of a massive wooden floor construction. 

Pusti Grad / Waldenberg Castle near Zgornja Lipnica, situation in the 14 th - 

century (after Sapač 2004). 


59

The entrance to the cellar was from the northwest and opened through the 

wall directly underneath the ceiling so that a wooden ladder was needed 

to reach the cellar floor. The walls of the cellar were plastered. Two further 

features complicate the picture: in the southwestern corner of Room A, a 

shaft opens in the wall separating Rooms A and B. The shaft leads diagonally 

downwards through the thickness of the wall towards Room B (the 

cellar) but it ended inside the wall and did not have an opening visible 

from inside the cellar until it was broken open by the excavators. In the 

same wall, but further north, another diagonal shaft opens inside Room 

B leading in the opposite direction, sloping downwards towards Room A. 

Again, there is no connection, since this second shaft ends at a level lower 

than the floor inside Room A. The excavations produced vast quantities of 

artefacts; more than 2450 have been recorded so far, dating mostly from 

the 14 th to the 16 th centuries. Pottery comprises numerous cooking vessels, 

oil lamps, simple tableware and also decorative luxury wares, among 

them imported Italian and Spanish majolica, as well as painted and glazed 

wares with engraved decoration, presumably of local production. Several 

fragments of stove tiles and an almost completely preserved figurine of St. 

Catherine of Alexandria made of pipe clay were also discovered. Glass vessels 

and coins are rare but other metal objects are numerous, comprising 

remains of agricultural and other tools, knives and kitchen utensils, window 

and door trappings, nails, arrow heads, bullets and remains of early 

firearms, dress accessories and ornaments made of brass etc. Some metal 

objects show traces of cutting and some could be interpreted as scrap metal 

though there is no clear evidence of recycling and production of metal 

objects on site. 

Around the castle core spirals a bailey possibly divided in two separate 

segments by a transverse wall on the northern side. It is enclosed by a polygonal 

wall with two rectangular towers. In the south it is still preserved 

almost to its original height. The entrance to the castle was on the western 

side leading through the bailey gate towards southeast, then turning 

sharply norhtwestwards and up an access ramp supported by an escarp 

towards Room B. The bailey was probably enclosed in the 14 th century. 

In the 16 th century, another small bailey was added in front of the 14 th - 

century outer gate, securing the access to the castle even more efficiently. 

No remains of possible outbuildings are visible inside the baileys. 


GELICHI, Sauro und Mitja GUŠTIN 2003, Keramika španske proizvodnje v Sloveniji = Ceramiche 

di produzione spagnola dalla Slovenia. – In: GUŠTIN, Mitja (ed.), Srednjeveško Celje 

= Medieval Celje, Ljubljana: Filozofska fakulteta, Oddelek za arheologijo, pp. 125–138 (esp. 

127–129). 




Wien, 2006.) 

OTOREPEC, Božo 1995, Gradivo za zgodovino Radovljice v srednjem veku (Materials for 

the history of Radovljica in the Middle Ages). – In: Radovljiški zbornik 1995, Radovljica, pp. 

10–37. 

RAVNIK TOMAN, Barbara 1993, Pusti grad nad Zgornjo Lipnico. Dnevnik arheoloških izkopavanj 

1993 (Excavation Field Diary). – Kept by Gorenjski Muzej Kranj. 

RAVNIK TOMAN, Barbara 1995, Kratek zapis o arheoloških izkopavanjih na Pustem gradu 

(Waldenberg) nad Zgornjo Lipnico. – In: Kroparski zbornik. Ob 100-letnici Plamena (1894– 

1994), Kropa und Radovljica, pp. 246–250. 

RAVNIK TOMAN, Barbara 1999, Gli scavi archeologici a Pusti grad – Waldenberg sopra 

Zgornja Lipnica. – In: Ceramica dal Bassomedioevo al Rinascimento in Italia nordorientale e 

nelle aree transalpine. Atti della giornata di studio (Udine, 16 Marzo 1996). – Archeologia di 


frontiera 2, Udine, pp. 151–152, T. XIX: 5–7. 

SAPAČ, Igor 2004, Grad Waldenberk – Pusti grad nad Radovljico na Gorenjskem. Stavbni razvoj 

(unpublished expert report). – Ljubljana. 

SMOLE, Majda 1982, Graščine na nekdanjem Kranjskem. – Ljubljana, pp. 406–408. 


Save. – Ljubljana, pp. 153–157. 

ŠMITEK, Janez 1992, Lipniški grad. – In: Radovljiški zbornik 1992, Radovljica, pp. 23–29. 

Ljubljana 

Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, lies in a central position at the crossroads 

of both land and river routes connecting the easternmost outcrops of the 

Alps to the north and the Pannonian plain to the east with the littoral regions 

around the Adriatic Sea and the Apennine peninsula to the west. The historic 

centre of the city stretches along both banks of the river Ljubljanica. 

To the south of the city extends a vast wetland area, the Ljubljana Marshes, 

covering some 160 km 2 . It is there that the earliest traces of settlement in 

the Ljubljana area have been found, presumably dating from the Mesolithic 

period (ca. 5000 BC). From the late Neolithic period until the Bronze Age, 

the edge of Ljubljana Marshes was occupied with pile dwellings. The most 

important find made in this context is the world's oldest wooden wheel, 

dating from 3350 to 3100 BC. The pile dwelling nearest to Ljubljana stood 

at the site of Špica just up the river from the city’s historic centre. 

During the late Bronze and early Iron Ages, several settlements existed inside 

the modern city centre. A hillfort was constructed on the castle hill. At 

its foot, just to the south of the medieval town at the site named Tribuna, 

a well-organised settlement with a rectangular grid of streets and large 

wooden houses was laid out. A third settlement core developed at the eastern 

edge of medieval Ljubljana at Vodnikov Trg. A vast necropolis, contemporaneous 

with these settlements has been excavated on the opposite, left 

river bank, in Salendrova and Gosposka Streets and at Kongresni Trg. 

In the 1 st century BC, a Celtic settlement existed at the foot of the castle 

hill extending from Stari and Gornji Trg to the site of Tribuna. The locals 

have had contacts with the Roman traders for some time before the Roman 

occupation which started in the late Augustan period. Remains of a 

short-lived wooden Roman army camp from the late 1 st century BC and the 

1 st century AD have been documented south of the Celtic settlement at the 

site of Tribuna. Soon, construction of a Roman colony started on the left 

bank of the Ljubljanica. The building of Colonia Iulia Emona was rapid and 

the town was founded in AD 14/15. The fortified town with a rectangular 

street grid measured some 520 × 430 m. It was settled with retired soldiers, 

mostly those who had served in the legions stationed in Illirycum and 

Pannonia. Emona was erected at an important crossroads where roads to 

Aquileia (towards Rome), Siscia (towards southern Illyricum and Moesia) 

and Poetovio (towards Vindobona and the Danube limes) met. Around 

the walled-in town, suburban settlements developed right next to the cities 

of the dead along the main roads leading from the town. 

Remains of the Roman town and its necropolises are well preserved and 

have been subject to excavation for over a century. In the 4 th century, Emona 

got its early-Christian centre around the bishop's palace. Internal politi- 


61

cal and military conflicts within the empire and the incursions of the Huns 

and other barbarian tribes affected the town considerably. In the late Roman 

period, the town walls and fortifications were renovated and some of 

the town gates blocked. 

Little is known about the settlement of today Ljubljana from the 6 th to the 

9 th /10 th centuries. This period witnessed the arrival and settlement of the 

Slavs. Graves containing typical head ornaments and other grave goods 

were found at various locations around Ljubljana, most notably at St. Peter's 

church to the east of the medieval town. Presumably, a church existed 

at this site in the 10 th century already, but no traces of the building have 

been found so far. St. Peter's was the seat of an extensive parish which 

included even the town of Ljubljana; the church retained this status until 

the 15 th century when St. Nicholas' church standing inside the town also 

gained parish status. 

Inside the medieval town itself, the earliest traces of settlement are now 

coming to light on the right bank of the Ljubljanica between Tromostovje 

(the Three Bridges) and the Čevljarski (Shoemakers’) Bridge. Excavations 

are still underway but it would appear that the earliest medieval settlement 

in this area started in the 11 th century, if not even earlier. Some remains of 

a fortified settlement (a hillfort?) dating from the 11 th –12 th century have 

been uncovered on the castle hill. 

Written sources document the existence of the castle of Ljubljana for the 

time between 1112 and 1125 and then again for the 1140s. The name appears 

first in its German form Leibach or Laibach, and then in 1146 also in 

the Slovene form Luwigana. All of these early mentions relate to the castle, 

then in the hands of the Carinthian Dukes of Spanheim. It was their main 

outpost in the Holy Roman Empire's border county or March of Carniola 

where in the course of the 12 th and early 13 th centuries the Spanheims were 

building a strong dominion. Upon the death of the last member of the Spanheim 

dynasty in the late 13 th century, Ljubljana, their main urban centre in 

Carniola, fell into the hands of the Czech king Ottacher II Premysl, then 

the Counts of Gorizia-Tyrol and finally in 1335, the Habsburgs. Ljubljana 

became the official seat of Carniolan provincial rulers and thus gained the 

status which it bears even to this very day as the capital of Slovenia. 

The medieval town was composed of three separate parts, the so-called 

Town (Mesto), Old Market (Stari Trg) and New Market (Novi Trg). They 

had formed and developed as separate settlement cores, even though in 

a legal sense, they constituted a single urban entity. The walls and other 

defensive structures followed that tripartite scheme and had developed 

individually for each part of the town. 

It is generally supposed that the Old Market was the first to gain market 

rights and is thus to be understood as the oldest urban core of the later 

medieval Ljubljana. However, no archaeological finds have been made so 

far to support this hypothesis. Clearly, it was the Town that was the first to 

be encircled by a wall with towers and gates connected with the castle, as 

confirmed by the archaeological findings on the castle hill. The position of 

a town gate, the so-called Old Market Gate shows that the Town was the 

first to have been enclosed with defensive walls protecting it even against 

attack from the Old Market lying to the south-west of it. Access to the Town 

was also possible from the east through the so-called Monastery Gate and 

from the north through the Hospital Gate on the river bank opening directly 

onto the wooden Old or Hospital Bridge (nowadays the Three Bridges). 


The role of another, so-called Upper Bridge (nowadays the Shoemakers’ 

Bridge) lying next to the Old-Market Gate was vital as it provided for the 

internal communication between the Town and the New Market at a point 

where the three parts of medieval Ljubljana meet. 

The city walls were first mentioned in 1243 when Ljubljana was explicitly 

named a civitas. Apparently, sometime before that a new, planned settlement 

(the Town) has been laid out east of the Old Market with the express 

intent of its feudal lords, the Counts of Spanheim, to spur urban development 

and enhance their own economic gains and interests. Recent archaeological 

findings confirmed this thesis in a rather spectacular way: Inside 

the Town, remains of a planned settlement were found, preliminarily dated 

around 1200. The whole area was divided in house lots; streets were 

planned and laid out at the same time as the buildings were constructed. 

The houses had low stone foundations on which walls made of wooden 

logs were resting. The basic street grid and in some cases even the lines of 

the street fronts have been preserved to this day. This planned settlement 

replaced an earlier phase of wooden buildings with walls made of horizontal 

or vertical planks inserted into massive horizontal log-frames. The 

corners were formed by massive wooden posts. 

Archaeological findings show that skin tanning and leather working were 

highly developed. Until the 13 th century, these industries were present in- 

Ljubljana and its fortifications in the 16 th century (© Mestni Muzej Ljubljana, 

edited by K. Predovnik). 


63

side the later Town, whereas a late-medieval tannery has been uncovered 

on the left river bank in the New Market, next to the monastery of the Teutonic 

Knights. This workshop was demolished by the 15 th century when 

the Carniolan nobles started to build their urban residences in the New 

Market. 

Already in the mid-13 th century, several religious orders have settled in 

Ljubljana, among them the Franciscans on the eastern edge of the Town, 

Teutonic Knights in the southwestern corner of the New Market and later 

the Augustinians in the suburbs opposite the Town, on the right riverbank 

(the site of the present Franciscan friary). In the post-medieval period and 

until its abolishment in 1783, the Franciscan friary was one of the preferred 

burial sites for the Ljubljana nobility and prominent burghers. 

The New Market was separated from both the Town and the Old Market 

by the course of the Ljubljanica and thus had to be fortified as a separate 

unit. It was also protected by the river to the east and possibly by the ruins 

of the eastern wall of the Roman town of Emona to the west, though the 

extent to which the Roman architecture was still preserved at the time is 

impossible to establish. The defences around the New Market were therefore 

not a dire necessity and were probably only completed around 1307. 

Two fortified gates allowed access into the New Market, the German or 

Knights-of-the-Cross' Gate from the west and the Viceroy's Gate from the 

north. A semi-circular tower and some stretches of the medieval wall are 

still standing in the Vegova Street today, since they have been incorporated 

into the later buildings. The foundations of another semi-circular tower 

have been excavated a little further west. The towers were a later addition 

to the wall; they were probably built in the early 15 th century. 

The Old Market was placed at a point well protected by the castle hill to the 

north, the river to the west and the marshes to the south and east. Thus, 

the wall around it was the last of the three segments of Ljubljana's fortifications 

to be built; it was probably completed after 1533 when even the 

last of the Old Market territory fell under direct jurisdiction of the town. 

Due to the incursions of the Turks in the 15 th and 16 th centuries, it was 

vital to keep Ljubljana's defences in good order. As the capital of Carniola, 

Ljubljana was also the military centre of the country and thus its strategic 

importance demanded a whole-scale modernization and reinforcement of 

the existing fortifications. In the mid-16 th century, a massive semicircular 

barbican was built outside the Monastery Gate on the eastern side of the 

Town. Outside the eastern defensive wall and encircling the barbican, a 

new, wider moat was laid out. At about the same time, the New Market 

received a new, outer wall running parallel to the medieval one at a few 

metres distance with a circular artillery fort at the southwestern corner 

and a large trapezoidal bastion at the northwestern corner. A wide moat 

filled with water and connected to the river was laid out along this second 

line of defences. 

The development of firearms and military tactics has rendered Ljubljana's 

fortifications fairly obsolete. In the 17 th century plans for a modern 

system of angular artillery bastions and forts were made but they have 

never been carried out. The demolition of the town walls started in 1783 

and by the early 19 th century most of Ljubljana's fortifications have been 

removed completely. The modern development of the town started with 

the arrival of the railway in 1849. In 1895, Ljubljana was devastated by an 

earthquake. In the ensuing reconstruction, a new town with several fine 


Art Nouveau (Jugendstil) buildings had developed in the area between the 

medieval town and the railway station to the north. 

Ljubljanski grad / Ljubljana Castle 

The castle of Ljubljana was built on the edge of a hill (376 m) rising some 

70 m above the settlement below. This low outcrop offers a dominant position 

overlooking Ljubljana Marshes to the southwest and the Ljubljana 

Field plain along the river Sava towards north and east. 

Archaeological excavations carried out inside and outside the castle complex 

in the 1960s and then from 1988 until the late 1990s by the Ljubljana 

Institute for Protection of Cultural Heritage and the Ljubljana City Museum 

have shown that the site of medieval castle was first settled during the 

late Bronze Age. Parts of an earthen rampart and a fireplace have been 

recorded together with some Iron Age artefacts, so this hillfort must have 

been occupied for several centuries. This corresponds well with the large 

prehistoric necropolis found on the opposite riverbank of the Ljubljanica 

in Gosposka and Salendrova Streets but also with the two settlements at 

the foot of the hill (the sites of Tribuna and Vodnikov Trg). As the crown 

of the hill has been continually levelled for construction, traces of earlier 

settlement are but scant and do not allow for any realistic assessment of 

its extent or form. 

A stretch of an earthen rampart with some wooden structures dating from 

the 11 th to the 12 th centuries has been excavated on the westernmost edge 

of the present castle complex. Presumably, some sort of feudal fortification 

or residence existed here already in the first half of the 12 th century when 

the name of Ljubljana first appears in the written sources. In 1220, the 

Carinthian Duke Bernard of Spanheim issued a document in palacio nostro 

Leibach. Whether this denotes the castle on the hill or a residence in the 

underlying urban settlement remains unclear. The first clear written reference 

to the castle itself appears in 1256 when it is mentioned as the most 

important castle belonging to the provincial rulers of Carniola (castrum 

capitalis ... Laybach). 

The extensive archaeological excavations at Ljubljana Castle have unearthed 

some, though rather inconclusive, remains of the 12 th –13 th -century 

castle. A part of the defensive ditch cut into the bedrock and a stretch 

of a wall inside the area enclosed by the ditch have been found. The water 

well in front of the late-medieval castle hall was probably also first dug out 

in the earlier medieval phase when it was fed with rainwater with the help 

of a gutter. In the early 16 th century, it was enlarged and changed into a socalled 

filtering cistern. 

A little further west, on the outer side of the medieval ditch, a stretch of the 

medieval southern town wall has been recorded. A gate must have existed 

nearby, since some 20 m further to the north a medieval pathway leading 

in a gentle curve towards the castle has also been uncovered. This point 

of access to the castle remained in use until the end of the Middle Ages. 

The castle was a central stronghold in the medieval defensive system of 

Ljubljana. The town was connected to the castle with defensive walls running 

uphill on both sides of the Town. Foundations of a circular wall-tower 


65

have been excavated next to the curtain wall in the eastern corner of the 

late-medieval castle complex. To this tower two walls were connected, one 

running downhill towards the river protecting the town to the east and the 

other probably connecting the round tower with the castle itself. 

Since the late 13 th century, Ljubljana Castle was property of the provincial 

rulers and their representatives (later called Lords Governor or Vicedomini) 

resided there. Due to its strategic importance for defence of Ljubljana, 

the castle was rebuilt completely in the late 15 th century and later on. 

The crown of the hill was levelled radically, removing nearly all traces of 

the medieval castle. Then, a larger area was enclosed by a polygonal curtain 

wall. An entrance tower was erected at the point of access through the 

town wall. On the outer (southern) side of the gate there was a ditch, 3 m 

wide, and the access was controlled by a drawbridge. From this keep, the 

old medieval path was leading to the castle complex from the north. The 

path ended at another gate in the so-called Frederic's Tower. This gate was 

also defended by a shallow ditch and a drawbridge. Until the late 16 th century, 

the area between the two entrance towers was protected by a mere 

wooden palisade on the side facing the town. 

Inside the curtain wall, the chapel of St. George, a residential hall and a 

water cistern were built in the first phase, whereas other buildings where 

added on later. The cistern was built on a square ground-plan in the central 

part of the courtyard. Its vast cubic water-chamber was fed with rainwater 

through a system of channels and was covered on the inside with a special 

water-tight plaster containing crushed brick. Nowadays it is empty and 

visits are possible. 

The chapel was built in the late 15 th century, by 1489 at the latest. At first, 

the building was somewhat lower than it is now and had a flat wooden 

ceiling. Traces of original painted decoration are still preserved inside, 

displaying ornamental bands with geometric motifs. The main entrance 

from the inner courtyard was on the southern side, the northern one connected 

the chapel with the castle hall. A third entrance led directly onto 

the western wooden gallery from which the Lord Governor, his family and 

other dignitaries would hear mass secluded from the rest of the congregation. 

Due to poor maintenance, the chapel was in dire need of repair by the 

end of the 16 th century. The new altar was consecrated in 1597 but construction 

continued until the mid-17 th century. At that time the chapel was 

raised and vaulted, and new, high and slender windows in late Gothic style 

were opened in the choir walls. A small belfry was erected to the north of 

the choir. The western gallery was closed-off with a stone wall and became 

a private oratory. The southern entrance to the chapel was abandoned, 

since new buildings had been erected along the curtain wall to the south 

of the chapel and the walking level of the courtyard around the chapel had 

been raised considerably. In 1747, the interior was painted by Abraham 

Kaltschmied with coats-of-arms of the various Governors of Carniola who 

had held the office from 1221 until 1742. During the French occupation 

(1809–1813) and from 1815 onwards, when the castle was serving as a 

prison, the chapel was badly neglected. A wooden floor was inserted separating 

the interior in two storeys. The choir part of the lower storey (cellar) 

was used as a morgue while the upper storey still served as prison 

chapel. Further changes were made around 1849, as the wooden storey 

was replaced with a vaulted construction and the oratory wall was demolished 

and replaced with a wooden gallery. The ceiling was painted over 

with provincial coats-of-arms of the Duchy of Carniola, the so-called Wind- 


ischmark (Slovenian March) and the March of Istria. In the early 1990s, the 

chapel was restored presenting the interior as it might have been in the 

mid-17 th century but including both earlier and later wall paintings and 

architectural elements (e.g. original windows). 

In 1496, a tower named Padav was built on the castle hill east of the castle 

complex as an outpost overlooking the main route of the approaching 

Turkish armies. In 1543, a large burghers' citadel was built at the same 

location. It was incorporated into the fortification belt by a wall connecting 

it with the castle curtain wall on one side and with the wall protecting the 

Old Market on the other side. The communication routes on the castle hill 

were rearranged radically and a new entrance to the castle complex was 

needed. On the eastern stretch of the castle curtain wall a massive pentagonal 

entrance tower was erected in the early 16 th century. A huge moat 

was dug in front of it, cutting across the width of the hill more than 8 m 

deep and 11.90 m wide at the top. The material from the moat was used to 

form an artificial mound, the so-called Lipnik, in the area between the citadel 

and the entrance tower. From Lipnik, a bridge spanning the distance of 

some 25 m and supported by two massive stone pillars stretched across the 

moat to the pentagonal tower with the gate controlled by a drawbridge. In 

1544, the former outer entrance tower was rebuilt and enlarged in order 

to serve as the municipal fire guard station (the so-called Piper's Tower). 

Other buildings have been erected inside the castle courtyard from the 

16 th to the 18 th century. The Lords Governor, acting on behalf of the Dukes 

of Carniola, lived in Ljubljana Castle until the mid-17 th century when they 

moved to a more comfortable town palace. The central provincial armoury 

and a military garrison remained at the castle. During the Napoleonic wars, 

the French occupied Ljubljana Castle shortly in 1797 and again from 1809 

until 1813. They used the castle as military barracks, prison and hospital. 

Once more in Austrian hands, the castle served as penitentiary from 

1815 till 1849, then as military barracks, and finally as penitentiary again 

from 1868 until the earthquake of 1895. It was then bought by Ljubljana 

municipality. Conservation and restoration of the complex started in the 

1930s and continued – with longer intermissions – until the end of the 20 th 

century. 


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o zgodovini Ljubljane, 16. in 17. novembra 1983 v Ljubljani. – Ljubljana. 

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pp. 473–476. 

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Stove Tiles. – Archaeologia historica Slovenica 1. – Ljubljana. 

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67

PETRU, Peter 1961, Zametki Ljubljanskega gradu. – Kronika 9(3), pp. 182–187. 

PLESNIČAR-GEC, Ljudmila 1999, Urbanizem Emone = The Urbanism of Emona. – Ljubljana. 

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144. – Maribor. 

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spomenikov 20, pp. 267–274. 

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dvorci. – Ljubljana, pp. 69–120. 

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56(1–2), pp. 5–40. 

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– Ljubljana. 

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41(3), pp. 473–492.

Castrum Bene 12 - Oddelek za arheologijo - Univerza v Ljubljani

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